A retired California judge acting as arbitrator has ordered Uber to pay $40 million to the parents of Emily Normandin-Parker, a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck by a car after her Uber driver ejected her and a friend onto the shoulder of a freeway in Orange County, California, in August 2023. The arbitration documents, dated July 2026 and released publicly this week, found both Uber and the driver, Vu Tran, vicariously liable for Normandin-Parker's death, with $20 million awarded to each of her parents, Carol Normandin and Ken Parker.

According to the arbitration ruling by retired judge Richard A. Stone, Normandin-Parker and her friend had ordered an Uber home after a night out when the friend vomited in the vehicle. Tran pulled over at a gore point — the triangular zone between a highway on-ramp and the main road — on Route 73 and began arguing outside the car with Normandin-Parker's friend over a cleaning fee. While the dispute unfolded, Normandin-Parker wandered into oncoming traffic and was struck. Stone wrote that Tran had