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Colorado Rep. Jenny Willford has filed a lawsuit against the ride-share app Lyft over an alleged sexual assault during a trip with a man impersonating a certified driver last February.
Willford alleged in the suit that she was “subjected to unwelcome, nonconsensual sexual contact, touching, and (lewd) comments” during a ride to her Adams County home on Feb. 24, 2024. The advances were apparently so egregious that Willford exited the car early and walked to a location other than her home so the driver wouldn’t know where she lived.
Lyft records showed that her driver was supposed to be someone named Shanu. Instead, an unvetted driver who didn’t match the profile’s description showed up, according to the suit.
The person had been using the Shanu account on behalf of Shanu Transportation, a registered transportation company that is only approved to move property, Colorado Newsline reported.
“Shanu allowed their drivers to use this account to pick up supplemental business, without going through the usual driver qualification and profile process required by Colorado law to use a Lyft driver account,” the lawsuit reads.
Typically, a driver needs to undergo a background check and driving history review before they can be certified by Lyft. Account and password sharing is prohibited by the rideshare company.
Kholmurod Halimov, the Shanu Transportation owner named in the lawsuit, told Colorado Newsline that he let a friend use the Shanu Lyft account. He surmised that the man who drove Willford was a friend’s brother.
Halimov asserted that an account-sharing ban isn’t listed in Lyft’s contract. The closest permissible feature is Lyft Family, which allows one account to be shared between up to five people, but this option is for riders only — not drivers.
The Shanu driver profile hadn’t been used by Halimov since before February 2024, he told the outlet. He claimed that the person who allegedly made sexual advances to Willford was the only other person to use his account and that it was only meant to be a one-time thing.
Despite being named in the lawsuit, Halimov reportedly had no idea what had happened when he was originally contacted by Colorado Newsline.
The lawsuit hinges on the pervasiveness of phony profiles on Lyft and its shoddy public safety history. Lyft just settled another lawsuit over sexual assaults by its drivers in July.
In 2021, Lyft released a report detailing its sex assault data across three years that showed a staggering 360 rapes alone. In total, there were 4,100 reports of sexual assault and 10 deaths between 2017 and 2019.
In December 2019 alone, more than 30 women sued Lyft in two separate lawsuits alleging sexual assaults by drivers and a “sexual assault predator crisis.”
If you have been sexually assaulted and live in New York, you can call 1-800-942-6906 for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the state, you can dial the 24/7 National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
