Judge Tells Uber Lawyer: ‘It Looks Like You Covered This Up’
- 7 years ago
Judge Tells Uber Lawyer: ‘It Looks Like You Covered This Up’
The company did share the letter from Mr. Jacobs’s lawyer with three different United States attorney offices, because Mr. Jacobs had threatened to take his claims to federal prosecutors
and Uber wanted to “take the air out of his extortionist balloon,” Ms. Padilla testified.
The judge, William Alsup, delayed the start of the trial on Tuesday — one day before jury selection was supposed to begin — after the United States attorney’s
office in Northern California alerted him to the existence of the letter, written by the lawyer for a former Uber employee to one of the company’s lawyers.
The letter that caused the trial to be delayed was written by a lawyer for Richard Jacobs, a former
employee in Uber’s security team, to Angela Padilla, the company’s deputy general counsel.
Nonetheless, Uber paid a $3 million settlement to the lawyer who wrote the letter in addition to the $4.5 million paid to Mr. Jacobs.
After Mr. Jacobs left Uber, his lawyer sent the 37-page letter to Ms. Padilla as part of settlement negotiations in May.
Ms. Padilla said the company had not shared this letter with the legal team handling the Waymo case
because Uber hadn’t wanted to compromise an internal investigation into its claims.
On Wednesday, two current Uber security employees denied many of the allegations in the 37-page letter
and claims by Mr. Jacobs in his testimony on Tuesday.
The company did share the letter from Mr. Jacobs’s lawyer with three different United States attorney offices, because Mr. Jacobs had threatened to take his claims to federal prosecutors
and Uber wanted to “take the air out of his extortionist balloon,” Ms. Padilla testified.
The judge, William Alsup, delayed the start of the trial on Tuesday — one day before jury selection was supposed to begin — after the United States attorney’s
office in Northern California alerted him to the existence of the letter, written by the lawyer for a former Uber employee to one of the company’s lawyers.
The letter that caused the trial to be delayed was written by a lawyer for Richard Jacobs, a former
employee in Uber’s security team, to Angela Padilla, the company’s deputy general counsel.
Nonetheless, Uber paid a $3 million settlement to the lawyer who wrote the letter in addition to the $4.5 million paid to Mr. Jacobs.
After Mr. Jacobs left Uber, his lawyer sent the 37-page letter to Ms. Padilla as part of settlement negotiations in May.
Ms. Padilla said the company had not shared this letter with the legal team handling the Waymo case
because Uber hadn’t wanted to compromise an internal investigation into its claims.
On Wednesday, two current Uber security employees denied many of the allegations in the 37-page letter
and claims by Mr. Jacobs in his testimony on Tuesday.