Cab company not liable for alleged sex assault

TORONTO — A taxi company cannot be held liable for the alleged sexual assault of a passenger by one of its drivers, Ontario’s top court ruled on Friday.

In dismissing an appeal by the complainant, the Court of Appeal sided with a lower court judge that the company had done no wrong.

“The alleged sexual assault may be characterized as only coincidentally linked to the activities of the taxi company,” the Appeal Court said. “The taxi company did not require or permit the driver to touch the customer in any intimate body zones.”

The alleged incident arose when a woman had a friend at a party call United Taxi in Kitchener, Ont., late one evening to come get her. The woman,whowasintoxicated,claimed the driver sexually assaulted her. She sued him and the owner of the cab. She also sued the cab company on the basis that it was liable for the driver’s actions.

In September last year, Superior Court Justice David Broad dismissed her claim against the company.

Evidence was that the driver had no criminal record. Nor was there any indication the company knew, or should have known, that he might have had a propensity for, or history of, sexual or other violence. As a result, Broad said, it would defy common sense to hold the company responsible for the alleged assault.

“The wrongful acts alleged by the plaintiff against (the driver) were only coincidentally linked to United Taxi’s activities as the operator of a taxi-dispatching business,” Broad ruled.