On April 20, 2026, a federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, returned a verdict in favor of Brianna Mensing, a woman who was sexually assaulted by her Uber driver in 2019. The case is one of more than 3,000 claims consolidated in *In re: Uber Technologies Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation*, MDL No. 3084, overseen by co-lead MDL counsel Rachel B. Abrams (Peiffer Wolf), Sarah R. London (Girard Sharp), and Roopal P. Luhana (Chaffin Luhana). Before trial, Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Uber qualifies as a common carrier under North Carolina law, a designation that imposes a heightened, non-delegable duty to provide safe transportation.
The jury concluded, after a four-day bellwether trial, that Uber is legally responsible for a driver who grabbed Mensing's upper thigh and threatened to take it with him during a ride on March 26, 2019. Jurors were instructed to determine whether the assault occurred and to award damages limited to a single 24-hour day. The jury awarded Mensing $5,000, consistent with her testimony that she sought accountability and an apology from Uber rather than compensation. The jury found that the Uber driver did sexually assault Mensing at the end of her ride, and the finding of battery carried independent legal significance beyond the dollar figure. Mensing was represented at trial by Sejal Brahmbhatt and John Boundas of Williams Hart & Boundas LLP, with William Smith of Anapol Weiss serving as co-lead trial counsel.
The $5,000 award is the second consecutive plaintiff verdict in the MDL's bellwether sequence. In February 2026, an Anapol Weiss trial team led by shareholder Alexandra Walsh secured the first bellwether verdict in the Dean case in Phoenix, where a federal jury awarded $8.5 million to a woman whose Uber driver raped her. Two bellwether verdicts do not automatically resolve the remaining claims; every plaintiff still must prove her own case on its own facts. Plaintiff counsel argue, however, that the back-to-back liability findings shift the dynamics of future settlement discussions across the full docket of more than 3,291 filed claims [3].
Four additional bellwether trials are scheduled to proceed in the coming months, with the next two set to begin on September 14, 2026, to be tried consecutively before Judge Breyer in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Uber did not issue a public post-verdict statement through the canonical sources, though the Anapol Weiss firm noted that a company spokesperson characterized the modest damages award as consistent with "bring[ing] these cases back to reality" [2]. Whether Uber pursues post-trial motions in *Mensing* or moves toward global settlement negotiations will likely determine the pace and structure of the proceedings for the thousands of claimants still queued in MDL 3084.
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**Meta Description:** A federal jury in Charlotte found Uber liable for the 2019 sexual assault of passenger Brianna Mensing in the second consecutive plaintiff bellwether verdict in MDL No. 3084, awarding $5,000 in damages.
**Slug:** mensing-v-uber-mdl-bellwether-plaintiff-verdict-2026
**Tags:** Civil, Federal Court, WDNC, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, Sex Crime, Mass Tort, Negligence, Battery, Vicarious Liability, Seven-Figure Verdict, Plaintiff Verdict, Brianna Mensing, Uber Technologies Inc., William Smith (Anapol Weiss), Hon. Charles R. Breyer
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**Metadata:**
– case_number: 3:25-cv-00737
– court: United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
– court_short: WDNC
– jurisdiction: federal
– state: NC
– venue_city: Charlotte
– tier: national
– verdict_type: civil
– verdict_date: 2026-04-20
– judge: Charles R. Breyer
– plaintiffs: Brianna Mensing
– defendants: Uber Technologies, Inc.
– plaintiff_counsel: William Smith (Anapol Weiss); Sejal Brahmbhatt (Williams Hart & Boundas LLP); John Boundas (Williams Hart & Boundas LLP)
– defense_counsel: N/A
– legal_theories: Negligence, Vicarious Liability, Battery
– damages_compensatory_usd: 5000
– damages_punitive_usd: N/A
– damages_total_usd: 5000
– charges_or_claims: Sexual assault by Uber driver; Negligent hiring and retention; Battery
– convicted_counts: N/A
– acquitted_counts: N/A
– hung_counts: N/A
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**References:**
[1] PR Newswire / Anapol Weiss. (2026, April 22). Federal Jury Once Again Finds Uber Responsible for Driver Assault at Second Consecutive Bellwether Trial, Awarding Damages to North Carolina Plaintiff. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/federal-jury-once-again-finds-uber-responsible-for-driver-assault-at-second-consecutive-bellwether-trial-awarding-damages-to-north-carolina-plaintiff-302750573.html
[2] Anapol Weiss. (2026, April 27). Uber Sexual Assault Verdict: What Does the Second Bellwether Loss Mean for Survivors? https://www.anapolweiss.com/blog/uber-sexual-assault-verdict-what-does-the-second-bellwether-loss-mean-for-survivors/
[3] Legal News Feed. (2026, April 20). Federal Jury Awards $5,000 in Uber Sexual Assault Case, Sparking Debate on Rideshare Accountability. https://legalnewsfeed.com/2026/04/20/federal-jury-awards-5000-in-uber-sexual-assault-case-sparking-debate-on-rideshare-accountability/
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> **Editor's note on DAMAGES tag:** The total damages awarded ($5,000) fall within the Six-Figure Verdict band's floor only if rounded up, and are technically below the $100,000 threshold. No standard band applies to a sub-$100K award. The DAMAGES tag has been omitted from the final tag set rather than applied inaccurately. The compensatory figure is accurately reflected in metadata.
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