Uber Must Pay $40 Million for a Freeway Death, an Arbitrator Ruled

Emily Normandin-Parker, a 23-year-old UCLA graduate, was killed in 2023 after her driver stopped on California 73.

Uber must pay $40 million to the parents of a woman who was killed on a freeway after her driver ordered her out of the car. Judge Richard Stone issued the award after a five-day arbitration, finding the company answerable for its driver's conduct, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a news release from Panish, Shea, Ravipudi, the law firm representing the parents.

The money is split evenly, $20 million each, between Carol Normandin and Ken Parker. Their daughter, Emily Normandin-Parker, a 23-year-old UCLA graduate, died in August 2023. Normandin told the Times the outcome felt “hollow” because Uber hasn't accepted responsibility, and the couple plan to put the award into the Emily Normandin-Parker Foundation, which they created in her name to push for stronger rider-safety protections.

Normandin-Parker and a friend, Luna Moore, were in the back of the car when Moore got sick, according to the law firm's release. The driver, Vu Tran, stopped at a gore point on California 73 in Orange County — the striped wedge beside an off-ramp — and demanded a cleaning fee. The release says he then ordered both women out. Normandin-Parker, who was intoxicated, was struck by another driver and killed.

Her mother told “Good Morning America” that the women were arguing with Tran when her daughter was hit. The arbitration award, as that program described it, says Tran drove near her body and took the next exit. He didn't render aid or call 911, the law firm's release says, and instead called Uber about the cleaning fee.

Stone wrote that the gore point was an “unsafe and illegal” place to stop and that Tran could have taken the MacArthur Boulevard ramp and pulled over somewhere safe, according to the Times.

“Tran showed far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers,” Stone wrote.

Stone also ruled that Uber owes its passengers a duty of protection and is accountable for harm its drivers cause. He rejected the company's argument that Proposition 22, the 2020 measure that lets it treat drivers as independent contractors, shields it from that liability.

Tran had completed close to 6,000 trips with a 4.96 rating and no prior incidents involving unsafe freeway stops or injured riders, per Uber's statement to the Times. The law firm's release says the company had also received complaints about his “reckless behavior,” including a rider who called it the least safe ride he'd taken, and that evidence at the arbitration showed Uber told customers it was reviewing his account but never did. Tran no longer drives for the company.

Uber said its thoughts remain with the family and disputed the ruling. “While we respect the arbitration process, we believe the arbitrator was wrong in holding Uber legally responsible for the tragic events of that night,” a spokesperson said in a statement to the Times.

Her father said the relief was thin. “There have been additional deaths since Emily, and unless Uber changes the way it does business, there will be more,” Parker told the paper.

Source: latimes.com, retrieved September 18, 2026.