Illinois Supreme Court rejects mandatory arbitration in wrongful death lawsuit against Uber
Although a decedent agreed to arbitration when he accepted Uber’s user agreement, that does not compel arbitration for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate, according to a recent opinion by the Illinois Supreme Court.
In 2022, Mark Geller and his Uber driver, Ejaz Rathore, were killed when the vehicle struck a fixed object on the interstate, WBEZ reports.
Gloria Sheridan Geller, the passenger’s widow, brought a wrongful death suit against Uber in the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. The court granted Uber’s motion to compel arbitration on survival claims based on the husband’s agreement. Uber also tried to compel arbitration based on the wife’s Uber user agreement, which the trial court rejected.
Uber appealed, and an appellate court found that both user agreements delegated the dispute to an arbitrator. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed that finding in September.
The agreement submitted defined the contracting relationship by the wife’s individual access and use of Uber, while the dispute in front of the court was only about the husband’s Uber use. And for that, she did not consent to arbitration, according to the Sept. 24 opinion.
“The absence of a clear and unmistakable agreement to delegate the arbitrability of wrongful death claims resulting from a third party’s use of Uber’s services prevents this court from compelling an arbitrator to determine arbitrability in this case,” the state supreme court wrote.
The Chicago Sun-Times also had coverage.
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