The parents of a Lyft driver who was murdered on the job in Houston last year sued the rideshare company and the man accused of killing him Wednesday for his death and gross negligence.
Texas residents Mark Kim and Monica J. Hong sued Lyft and capital murder suspect Anthony Perkins over the killing of their son, 27-year-old Philip Kim, who was shot and killed in Houston’s South Side last February. Kim and Hong allege the company failed to take a series of safety measures after a spike in murder cases leading up to their son’s death in which riders killed their drivers.
“Lyft could make a few simple changes to the Lyft App to greatly improve safety for Lyft drivers. Unfortunately, Lyft has opted not to do so. As a result, Lyft drivers are vulnerable to acts of violence by Lyft riders,” their court complaint states.
A spokesperson for Lyft declined to comment, saying the company cannot speak about ongoing litigation. Kherker Garcia, LLP — a catastrophic and personal injury law firm in Houston — filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kim’s parents.
“Philip Kim’s parents are living every family’s worst nightmare, a young man with a bright future taken in an act of unimaginable violence,” Sadi R. Antonmattei-Goitia, a partner at Kherkher Garcia, said in a release. “But this case is not just about one horrific crime; it is about a preventable tragedy.”
Perkins is in Harris County jail and has not yet been convicted. One of Perkins’ criminal defense attorneys said he was not representing him in the civil case, and his defense team was “solely focused” on the criminal proceedings. Court records do not list a defense attorney for Perkins in the civil case.
Riders can make fraudulent accounts on the Lyft app, which doesn’t require identity verification and can make them more comfortable to commit crimes, the lawsuit alleges.
On the night of Kim’s murder, three men ran up to the 27-year-old, shot him multiple times and pulled him from his car, according to police. They stole his vehicle, crashed it into a ditch and fled, authorities said.
Kim was driving Lyft to pay for flight school and fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot, according to the complaint. He died as an ambulance transported him to the hospital.
His parents argue the company could have taken steps to better protect Kim and other drivers, from an identity verification system to a surveillance camera that could record audio and video through the Lyft app. Attorneys said Lyft shares a database of “problematic drivers” with other rideshare companies and suggested Lyft could use the same concept to exclude riders from the app.
Lyft was “on notice” of at least two incidents involving physical assault and carjacking near the scene of Kim’s murder less than a week earlier, the lawsuit alleges.
Kim’s parents sued Perkins for bodily injury, Lyft for negligence and products liability, and both for gross negligence. They outlined numerous damages, including the death of their son, mental anguish, financial and inheritance losses, funeral expenses and more.
They seek more than $1 million in monetary relief in addition to interest, and they demanded a trial by jury.