A gay man who claimed a Chicago taxi driver threw him
and a male companion out of the cab, leaving them on Lake Shore Drive, has sued
Uber and the Chicago taxi association with which the driver was affiliated, saying
the companies should be held liable under state human rights laws for the
drivers’ actions.
On June 6, Shadi Ramini, of Chicago, filed his complaint in
Cook County Circuit Court against Uber Technologies and the Blue Ribbon Taxi
Association, saying they should be held to account for the alleged violations
of their rights under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
The action, introduced by their attorneys, Jacob Meister and
Ed Mullen, of Jacob Meister & Associates, of Chicago, comes about 14 months
after Ramini and his companion, identified as Seth Day in other published
reports about the incident, first alleged they were kicked out of the cab as it
pulled onto Lake Shore Drive after the pair exchanged what they described as a
brief kiss.
According to the complaint, the incident occurred on April
1, 2015, when Ramini hired the taxi through the Uber smartphone app to pick him
and Day up at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sheridan Avenue in Chicago for
a trip “to a destination further north.”
Upon entering the back seat of the cab, Ramini’s complaint
said he and his companion “kissed briefly” in a manner that “was by no means
inappropriate.”
According to the complaint, the driver, who is not
identified in the complaint, allegedly became “aggressive and belligerent” and
told the men “they could not do that in his cab and that they needed to get
out.”
However, when Ramini and his companion attempted to get out,
the complaint alleged the driver “sped up while the door was open and got onto
Lake Shore Drive in the opposite direction of their destination.”
Ramini said he was able to get out of the cab onto Lake
Shore Drive median, but “his companion was not able to get out of the cab until
further south, and he suffered cuts, bruises and injuries.”
They alleged the cab driver’s purported actions were
directed at them because they are gay.
The lawsuit said Ramini had attempted to filed a case with
the Illinois Department of Human Rights over the incident, but the state agency
dismissed his complaint there “on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.” That
decision “exhausted his administrative remedies,” prompting Ramini to litigate
the matter in the county’s civil courts.
Ramini said the companies should be held vicariously liable
for the cab driver’s alleged discriminatory actions “because of their role in
the management and operation of the taxi cab” and the driver’s alleged “wrongful
denial of access to public accommodations based on … sexual orientation.”
Ramini has requested unspecified compensatory and punitive
damages, plus attorney fees.
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