Phony $10M Uber lawsuit supposedly filed by shooting suspect was accepted by federal court workers
A phony lawsuit from an imprisoned suspect in a Kalamazoo, Michigan, multiple shooting against Uber alleged the ride-arranging service ruined his life.
But Jason Dalton obviously could not have sent the handwritten civil rights complaint, with its Philadelphia postmark, and he and his lawyer say he knew nothing about it, Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told the Detroit Free Press.
Nonetheless, court workers in the Eastern District of Michigan filed the complaint and assigned it a case number.
Court officials are investigating, but say they aren’t sure any laws were broken. In retrospect, though, there were some red flags, the newspaper reports.
Dalton had previously made claims to police about his mind being controlled by the Uber app. However, the complaint should have been filed in the Western District of Michigan rather than the Eastern District.
He is accused of fatally shooting six people on Feb. 20, in a multiple-location rampage in which two more victims were injured, while taking fares for Uber.
Battle Creek Enquirer and Gawker stories are some of the many articles that detailed the $10 million lawsuit when it was initially thought to have been actually filed by Dalton.
The fake complaint named Uber as a defendant and blamed the company for Dalton’s alleged crimes and imprisonment.
“This company is a hostile workplace environment. I am tired of being treated by (sic) second class citizen by Uber,” it states. “Uber discriminates against my mental health.”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Prison gang helped escapees get fake court orders granting early release, official says”
Updated on March 18 to change headline and language describing the court workers.
Correction
Updated on March 18 to change headline and language describing the court workers.
