Powerhouse lawyer from Detroit plays a key role in Uber, Lyft sexual assault lawsuits

Tiffany Ellis focuses on rideshare cases after success with landmark opioid litigation

Apr 04, 2026

Tiffany Ellis of Detroit is relentless in the courtroom.

And she appears to be racking up landmark victories with no end in sight.

First came opioid litigation and now sexual assaults involving rideshare companies.

Ellis, 45, past president of the Detroit Bar Association, spent five years working with law firms and states attorneys general across the country to win a huge verdict in opioid litigation in 2022, helping deliver $1.6 billion back to Michigan in the opioid litigation against drug manufacturers, distributors and dispensaries.

As a result, 62 Michigan cities and counties, including her home county— St. Clair County on the Thumb Coast —recovered money for treatment, prevention and recovery.

Ellis flew back and forth to San Francisco for years prior to the 11-week trial, which led to a $500 million recovery for defendants in the City of San Francisco battling the opioid epidemic, while legal fallout led to additional payments in California and nationwide.

“These are not things that take a short period of time,” Ellis told me during a live interview on WPHM radio. “Seeking justice when it comes to long-term societal harm, like the opioid epidemic, takes a tremendous amount of effort. Sometimes that justice moves like molasses.”

After the opioid victory, Ellis joined the team suing Uber.

“In my practice, I’ve been fortunate enough to focus on big litigation that helps make change for people, small business and cities and counties, help right the wrongs. I’ve also developed a specialty in prosecuting sexual assault cases.”

Why Uber

Lawsuits against Uber focus on holding the rideshare company accountable for sexual assault and rapes that occurred in their vehicles.

In February 2026, a federal jury in Arizona ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million in damages in the first “bellwether“ trial regarding passenger sexual assault by a driver, according to Bloomberg Law. The jury found Uber liable under an “apparent agency“ theory, suggesting passengers reasonably believe drivers act on behalf of Uber, despite their independent contractor status.

On Thursday, April 2, Uber urged a California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation for alleged passenger sexual assaults to reverse his tentative decision that it's a "common carrier" with a duty to ensure passenger safety, a finding that could hamstring the ride-hailing giant in an upcoming North Carolina bellwether trial, reported Law360 legal news.

Uber calls itself a tech company rather than a transportation company, which carries with it different legal expectations and responsibilities.

Rachel Abrams, a partner in the Peiffer Wolf law firm in San Francisco, is one of three lawyers just appointed by a California judge to co-lead multi-district litigation over passenger sexual assault claims against Lyft. She is also co-lead for for the Uber litigation. The firm is representing thousands of plaintiffs.

Ellis joined Peiffer Wolf in Detroit explicitly to become part of the team that’s now helping lead the ride shares sexual assault litigation.

Most of the trial team in Dean v. Uber with client Jaylynn Dean.

In addition to the federal litigation, there are state court consolidated actions in California — known as a JCCP, a judicial council coordinated proceeding. These state and federal litigations bundle civil cases involving common facts or legal issues for mass claims, common with product liability cases involving medical companies and car companies, for example.

“These cases are kind of like class actions,” Ellis said. “But in class action, one person stands in the shoes to determine the result for all victims. In a JCCP or MDL, every case is stand-alone but it’s more efficient. For example, a company executive is deposed once instead of 5,000 times. That deposition is used by all the cases.”

The lead legal team helps shape strategy for the nation. Already, Abrams and Ellis and the dozens of their colleagues have defined a path to victory.

3,100 sex assault cases pending vs. Uber

“To date, about 3,100 cases have been filed in federal court in the MDL for Uber for riders who have been sexually assaulted,” Ellis said. “We’re told heartbreaking stories about how they’ve been kidnapped and raped … Our cases are about these companies sending the drivers to the riders. Companies at their core decide which driver to send to riders. They collect data, know risk factors for when sexual assault can occur and can take measures to prevent from happening.”

U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has been calling since 2018 for stricter safety protocols and fingerprint-based background checks.

Cases involving attacks on drivers have also been handled by Ellis’ law firm.

Victim called police. Driver ‘de-activated’

In early February 2026, a federal jury found on behalf of Jaylynn Dean, who had just finished her flight attendant school exams and was preparing to start a new life. She went out to celebrate in Phoenix, her date couldn’t take her home because of alcohol consumption and called an Uber, Ellis said.

“The driver rode around dark parking lots until he found a spot with no cameras and raped her,” Ellis said. “She called police. She reported it to Uber. He was deactivated. But the question for the jury was, how could this happen in the first place? They believed Uber was responsible.”

Dean was 19 at the time of the incident and 21 at the time of the verdict.

Uber, which has been ordered to pay $8.5 million, is appealing the verdict.

Taking depositions and building the case has dominated life for Ellis and her colleagues for both state and federal cases.

“We have another trial starting in North Carolina” this month, Ellis said. “Our team is doing that one but the judge has also set more trials for later this year in September in San Francisco. All of this presumes the cases don’t settle. Uber claims itself to be a technology company. We assert they are a transportation company. They provide rides to people, connect people, do screening, hiring, have the ability to put cameras in cars and choose not to.”

‘Helping people’

More recently, Uber has launched a woman-preferred driver program in cities including Phoenix.

Now, the Peiffer Wolf firm is helping to create the framework for upcoming Lyft cases.

This is all part of ongoing consumer protection litigation at the firm Ellis joined, which also tackles sex abuse allegations against institutions, fertility misconduct involving IVF clients and investor protection.

“All of this is rooted in helping people,” Ellis said.

How Ellis ended up in these fights

Ellis, who graduated from Capac (Michigan) High School in 1999 and went on to study journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia, because she was curious about the world and wanted to ask questions. But she learned that she didn’t want to be objective and tell stories.

She wanted to do something about the stories she was telling.

Ellis started working in child advocacy, helping children in foster care. Now she is helping communities respond to costs of the opioid epidemic and get companies to fix policies relating to driver safety.

“These ride share sexual assault cases are about the conflict we face as a society,” Ellis said. “These companies have completely transformed the way we get around, allowing people to make money and allowing people to get places — but it comes with dangers. We believe, and have proven, that companies responsible could do something about these dangers. With great power comes great responsibility.”

Lawyers Tiffany Ellis and Rachel Abrams, left, with Uber plaintiff Jaylynn Dean.

The Uber trial in North Carolina starting next week is expected to be short and they are calendared to continue through the year.

“I will be supporting the North Carolina trial from here in Michigan,” Ellis said. “For the San Francisco trials, I’ll likely be on the ground there, day in and day out, living in a hotel, like (I did in) Phoenix.”

Lyft cases are scheduled for state court in September.

During the Uber trial, testimony revealed that the rideshare company received more than 500,000 reports of sexual assault, Ellis said. These companies have data that shows high risk situations, when calls come in late, near bars, involving a mixed gender match for passenger and driver, she said.

“A lot of my work in this litigation has been focused on fighting claims of privilege,” Ellis said, where Uber claims the company is protected from disclosing the quantity and types of information collected. “We have been largely successful in efforts to get documents, otherwise held in secret, out into public view. That’s a continuing effort.”

Editor’s note: Apart from law, Tiffany Ellis sails the Bayview Mackinac Race on Epic, a Beneteau First 42s7 owned by Ray and Winnie Adams of West Bloomfield, Michigan.

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