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<b><u>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
</u></b><br>
April 30, 2016<br><br>
<br><br>
CONTACTS: <br><br>
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<br>
<b>Timothy Elder</b><br>
<br>
TRE Legal Practice<br>
<br>
(410) 415-3493<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:telder@trelegal.com">telder@trelegal.com</a><td width=215>
<br>
<br>
<b>Larry Paradis</b><br>
<br>
Disability Rights Advocates<br>
<br>
(510) 541-4459<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:lparadis@dralegal.org">lparadis@dralegal.org</a></td>
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<br>
<b>Michael Bien</b><br>
<br>
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld<br>
<br>
(415) 439-9821<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:mbien@rbgg.com">mbien@rbgg.com</a></td></tr>
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<br>
<b>Chris Danielsen</b><br>
<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
<br>
(410) 262-1281<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br>
<br>
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<b> </b></td><td width=215><br>
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<br><br>
<b>Groundbreaking Settlement to End Discrimination Against Blind Uber
Riders Who Use Guide Dogs <br>
</b><br>
<b> <br>
</b><br>
April 30, 2016 –“ Berkeley, California – In an unprecedented settlement
announced tooday, Uber has agreed to take affirmative steps to prevent
discrimination against blind riders who use guide dogs in its
transportation network across the United States. <br><br>
<br><br>
The settlement resolves a lawsuit—<i>National Federation of the Blind of
California, et al.. v. Uber Technologies, Inc.</i>—brought by the
National Federation of the Blind, its California affiliate, and
individuals who use guide dogs, to ensure that guide dog users have full
and equal access to vehicles in the Uber network. This is the first
nationwide class-action settlement of its kind against an app-based
transportation network company. <br><br>
<i> <br>
</i><br>
While the growth of Uber’s on-demand transportation services has the
potential to be a boon to blind people, drivers using the Uber platform
have denied rides to blind people who use guide dogs. Any such
discrimination violates federal and state laws that protect the rights of
people with disabilities. Under the settlement, Uber will work to end
this discrimination and blind individuals will be able to use Uber
without the threat of discrimination.<br><br>
<br><br>
Uber has agreed to take affirmative steps to tell drivers about their
obligations to transport riders who are disabled and use service animals.
Uber will require that existing and new drivers expressly confirm that
they understand their legal obligations to transport riders with guide
dogs or other service animals. Uber will also implement stricter
enforcement policies—Uber will remove a driver from the platform upon a
sinngle complaint if Uber finds that the driver knowingly denied a person
with a disability a ride because the person was traveling with a service
animal. In addition, if Uber receives complaints that a driver denied a
person a ride because of a service animal on more than one occasion, the
driver will permanently be removed from the Uber platform regardless of
the driver’s intent. <br><br>
<br><br>
Uber will also enhance its response system for complaints related to
discrimination against guide-dog users, and will track detailed data on
all allegations of such discrimination. Additionally, the National
Federation of the Blind and its California affiliate will deploy testers
over a multi-year period to evaluate Uber’s compliance with the
settlement. <br><br>
<br><br>
Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: “Access to reliable and effective transportation is critical to
the ability of blind people to live the lives we want. Uber and similar
services can be a great asset to the blind when they are fully and
equally available to us. The National Federation of the Blind is
therefore pleased with Uber's commitment to effectively enforce a
nondiscrimination policy with respect to blind people who use guide dogs.
We look forward to working with Uber to ensure that all blind passengers
can take advantage of the innovative transportation service it
offers.”<br><br>
<br>
<a name="Start"></a><br>
<a name="Complete"></a>Plaintiff Michael Hingson commented: “This
settlement is a great step forward for all blind people. Uber can be such
a convenient transportation option. I’m looking forward to being able
to use the Uber services when Uber makes the changes needed to fix its
discrimination problem and bring true access to guide dog users.”<br>
<br>
<br><br>
Attorney Larry Paradis of Disability Rights Advocates said: “This
settlement sets important precedent and shows that companies cannot
ignore the rights of people with disabilities just because they use a new
technology or a novel business model. We are pleased we could come to an
agreement with Uber and look forward to working with the company to
ensure a more accessible system.”<br><br>
<br><br>
Attorney Michael Bien of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP observed:
“Technology-enabled services such as Uber have tremendous potential to
empower people with disabilities to live more independent lives. By
ensuring reliable equal access for blind riders with service animals to
Uber’s services, this agreement harnesses that potential.”<br><br>
<br><br>
Plaintiffs and defendant submitted the proposed settlement to the court
on April 29, 2016, and seek approval from the court to settle as a
nationwide class action. Copies of the settlement and other documents can
be found at
<a href="http://dralegal.org/case/national-federation-of-the-blind-of-california-et-al-v-uber-technologies-inc-et-al/">
http://dralegal.org/case/national-federation-of-the-blind-of-california-et-al-v-uber-technologies-inc-et-al/</a>
.<br><br>
<br><br>
Plaintiffs are represented by Larry Paradis and Julia Marks of Disability
Rights Advocates, Timothy Elder of TRE Legal, and Michael Bien and
Michael Nunez of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP.<br><br>
<br><br>
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<b><i>
<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20160430101034.03f8afa0@visi.com.1" width=644 height=213 alt="[]">
</i></b><br><br>
<i>About the National Federation of the Blind:<br>
</i><br>
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back. For more information, visit
<a href="http://nfb.org/">http://nfb.org</a>. <br><br>
<i><br>
About the California Affiliate of the National Federation of the
Blind:<br>
</i><br>
The NFB of California (NFBC) is the state affiliate of the National
Federation of the Blind. The NFBC knows that blindness does not define
you or your future. For more information, visit
<a href="http://nfbcal.org/">http://nfbcal.org/</a>.<br><br>
<i> <br>
</i><br>
<i>About Disability Rights Advocates:<br>
</i><br>
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is one of the leading non-profit
disability rights legal centers in the nation. With offices in Berkeley
and New York City, DRA’s mission is to advance equal rights and
opportunities for people with all types of disabilities nationwide. To
advance that mission, DRA regularly advocates for greater access to
transportation services and modern technologies. DRA recently negotiated
a landmark settlement that will dramatically improve access to taxis in
New York for people with mobility disabilities. DRA has also negotiated
access improvements to several types of popular modern technologies,
including the website Target.com in <i>National Federation of the Blind
v. Target, Corp.</i> and Redbox touchscreen video rental kiosks in
<i>Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired et al. v. Redbox
Automated Retail, LLC et al</i>. For more information, visit
<a href="http://www.dralegal.org/">www.dralegal.org</a>. <br><br>
<br><br>
<i>About TRE Legal:<br>
</i><br>
Founded by Timothy Elder, TRE Legal is a civil rights law firm fighting
discrimination and specializing in the rights of the blind and other
disabled people to access employment, education, government programs,
public accommodations, digital information, and all other aspects of
modern society. TRE Legal has helped negotiate collaboration agreements
between the blindness community and several mobile app developers to make
their respective technologies independently accessible to the blind. For
more information, visit
<a href="http://www.trelegal.com/">www.trelegal.com</a>. <br><br>
<br><br>
<i>About Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP:<br>
</i><br>
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG) is a private law firm that
specializes in complex litigation, including with respect to business
disputes, employment matters, institutional reform, and civil rights.
RBGG has extensive experience representing individuals and classes of
people with disabilities in litigation both against private entities and
in the criminal justice context. For more information, visit
<a href="http://rbgg.com/">http://rbgg.com/</a><br><br>
<br>
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<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<x-tab> </x-tab>David
Andrews and long white cane Harry.<br>
E-Mail: dandrews@visi.com or david.andrews@nfbnet.org<br>
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