PITTSBURGH – Uber has argued that wrongful death litigation brought by a Pennsylvania woman concerning the murder of her daughter, a driver for the ride share service who was held up at gunpoint and killed by her passenger, should be resolved in arbitration and not in a court of law.
Cindy Spicuzza (individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Christina Spicuzza, deceased) initially filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Sept. 7 versus Uber Technologies, Inc., Rasier, LLC and Rasier-PA, LLC, all of San Francisco, Calif.
At the time of her death, Christina Spicuzza, 38, had been driving for Uber for approximately one year, and lived with her fiancé and four children in Turtle Creek.
“On the night of Feb. 10, 2022, Ms. Spicuzza left her home to drive for Uber in a Nissan Sentra that she rented through Uber’s ‘Vehicle Marketplace’ program. Neither the Nissan Sentra nor any of the vehicles available from the Uber Vehicle Marketplace contained any safety devices to protect Ms. Spicuzza from her passengers. That same night, Calvin Crew, a 22-year-old man with a significant history of felony convictions, an outstanding warrant at the time of the Uber fare, and illegally in possession of a loaded handgun, asked his girlfriend, Tanaya Mullen, to order him an Uber ride to take him from his home on Brinton Road in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania to Pershing Street in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. A little before 9 p.m., Ms. Mullen ordered Mr. Crew an Uber ride using her Uber account and paid for the trip using her Apple Pay account,” the suit said.
“Uber fatefully matched Mr. Crew with Ms. Spicuzza. Within an hour and 15 minutes of picking up Mr. Crew, Ms. Spicuzza would be shot to death and her body left in a wooded area of Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Despite ordering the Uber for Mr. Crew, not herself, and having the option to select Uber’s ‘request a ride for someone else’ feature, Ms. Mullen opted to order the Uber in her own name instead of Mr. Crew’s name, entitling Mr. Crew to a sense of anonymity. As such, Ms. Spicuzza did not know Mr. Crew would be getting into her car that evening, as opposed to Ms. Mullen. On or around 9:15 p.m. Ms. Spicuzza arrived at Brinton Avenue and Mr. Crew appeared at the side of the car wearing dark clothing, a hood and a face mask (required by Uber due to the COVID-19 pandemic) covering Mr. Crew’s face, where only his eyes were visible. Upon entering the vehicle, Ms. Spicuzza turned around and asked Mr. Crew, “For Tanaya,” but Mr. Crew did not respond and entered the vehicle. Mr. Crew was Ms. Spicuzza’s very first passenger ride of the night.”
The suit added that if Uber had properly equipped Ms. Spicuzza with passenger verification data, she could have been alerted that Mr. Crew was not the requesting rider and that he had a criminal history – and furthermore, if Uber permitted its drivers to decline passengers for any reason without incurring any penalties or loss of incentives, Ms. Spicuzza would not have felt pressure to allow Mr. Crew into her car.
“During the Uber ride, Ms. Mullen sent a text to Mr. Crew stating, ‘Whatever you doing tonight, be careful.’ Mr. Crew later responded, ‘I’m not going to jail if we get caught.’ Around 9:30 p.m., the car neared the destination Ms. Mullen had input in the app, and Ms. Spicuzza’s Uber app announced, ‘Drop off Tanaya.’ Instead of exiting the vehicle, Mr. Crew produced a handgun, leaned forward from the back seat, grabbed Ms. Spicuzza’s hair, placed the handgun on the back of her head, and ordered her to ‘complete the trip.’ After Mr. Crew drew the gun, Ms. Spicuzza began pleading with Mr. Crew to let her go stating, ‘I have a family’ and ‘I’m begging you, I have four kids,’ to which Mr. Crew responded, ‘I got a family too, now drive.’ At 9:34 p.m., Mr. Crew grabbed Ms. Spicuzza’s cellphone and dashboard camera from the car’s front dash and stated, ‘Do what I say and everything will be alright.’ While at gunpoint, Mr. Crew forced Ms. Spicuzza to drive through several neighborhoods. During this time, Mr. Crew attempted to rob Ms. Spicuzza, by trying to access several banking and payment mobile applications on her phone. Around 10:20 p.m., Mr. Crew ordered Ms. Spicuzza to stop driving near Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and to get out of her car,” the suit stated.
“Mr. Crew then led Ms. Spicuzza into a wooded area, where he proceeded to shoot her one time in the back of the head, killing her. Mr. Crew then returned to Ms. Spicuzza’s vehicle, put it in drive, and drove it back towards his home, leaving Ms. Spicuzza’s body near Rosecrest Drive. Mr. Crew then disposed of Ms. Spicuzza’s cellphone, her car’s dashcam and her vehicle. The following day, Feb. 11, 2022, Ms. Spicuzza’s fiancé, Brandon Marto, reported her missing, because she never came home from work and he had not heard from her since she picked up a passenger around 9 p.m. the previous night. That same night at around 10:54 p.m., Ms. Mullen sent Mr. Crew a message stating, ‘I’m not going to jail if we get caught.’ On Feb. 12, 2022, the police found Ms. Spicuzza’s body. After a post-mortem examination, the police determined that Ms. Spicuzza died late Thursday (Feb. 10) or early Friday (Feb. 11) from a gunshot wound she sustained to her head and further concluded that the manner of death was a homicide. An arrest warrant was later issued for Mr. Crew and the police apprehended him on Feb. 17, 2022. Mr. Crew was charged by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office with criminal homicide, robbery, robbery of a motor vehicle, carrying a firearm without a license, persons not to possess or use a firearm and tampering with evidence. Mr. Crew is currently facing the death penalty.”
The suit contended that “had Uber applied its driver background check procedures to passengers, used its massive data analysis capabilities to screen out dangerous passengers, permitted drivers to cancel suspicious fares without penalty, or simply provided basic safety features in Ms. Spicuzza’s Uber-approved rental car, these simple and effective measures – all readily available to Uber – could have saved Ms. Spicuzza’s life.”
On Oct. 31, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the action without prejudice.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i), plaintiff Cindy Spicuzza hereby gives notice that she is voluntarily dismissing this action. Dismissal by notice is proper because defendants Uber Technologies, Inc., Rasier, LLC and Rasier-PA, LLC have not served an answer or motion for summary judgment in this action. This dismissal is without prejudice,” the notice of voluntary dismissal stated.
The very same day, the plaintiff refiled her identical case in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
UPDATE
On Dec. 18, the defendants filed preliminary objections to the complaint, which argued that the Uber app’s terms of use dictated that any disputes be resolved through arbitration, and not through litigation.
“Ms. Spicuzza’s death was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by a malicious criminal. But plaintiff has brought this lawsuit against Uber, seeking to hold it responsible for Mr. Crew’s crimes. Plaintiff brings survival and wrongful death claims against Uber based on a theory of negligence. As a threshold matter, those claims cannot be heard in this Court because Ms. Spicuzza, like all independent drivers who use Uber’s platform, had a contract with Uber requiring her to arbitrate ‘any legal dispute’ arising in connection with her use of Uber’s services – including any and all tort claims. Ms. Spicuzza agreed to the PAA through an in-application ‘clickwrap’ agreement that had multiple features designed to ensure that independent drivers read and understood the terms of their relationship with Uber. Courts nationwide have routinely held that such clickwrap agreements are valid and enforceable,” the objections stated.
“Plaintiff does not, and cannot, allege any connection between Uber and Mr. Crew. Nevertheless, plaintiff brings this suit against Uber alleging negligence under Pennsylvania’s Wrongful Death Act and Survival Act. Plaintiff’s complaint should now be dismissed because it violates the terms of the PAA requiring plaintiff to arbitrate ‘any legal dispute’ arising in connection with Ms. Spicuzza’s use of Uber’s services – including any and all tort claims. In the alternative, plaintiff’s complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Specifically, plaintiff’s claims are predicated on her flawed allegation that Uber breached an unspecified (and unrecognized) duty to protect drivers from unforeseeable third-party criminal activity.”
Uber argued that the presence of alternative dispute resolution, failure of the plaintiff to adequately plead duty, foreseeability and causation, and failure to allege facts demonstrating that Uber’s actions or inactions in this case constitute outrageous conduct sufficient to support a request for punitive damages, all dictate that its preliminary objections be authorized.
For counts of survival and wrongful death, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory, punitive, and/or nominal damages, in an amount to be proven at trial.
The plaintiff is represented by Gary F. Lynch of Lynch Carpenter, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants are represented by Erin W. Grewe, Ryan J. O’Neil, Andrew Notaristefano and M. Dinora Smith of Campbell Conroy & O’Neil, in Berwyn.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-23-012644
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-01608
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com