NM Trial Lawyers News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Nine New Mexico legislators have joined 285 women state legislators from 44 states and territories in a letter urging U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to strike Amendment 041 from the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870). The state lawmakers’ letter lands as 128 members of Congress, led by the Democratic Women’s Caucus, delivered a parallel demand this week – a coordinated federal–state push against a provision that would shield rideshare companies from liability for harm on their platforms, including sexual assault.

The lawmakers note that the amendment would override rideshare safety laws enacted this year
in Virginia and Colorado, and that Congress enacted just four years ago – on a bipartisan basis –
to guarantee survivors their day in court. “We hold different views on many things,” the state
legislators’ letter states. “On this we do not differ: under no circumstances should any corporation be shielded from liability for sexual assault.”

The New Mexico legislators who have signed on to the letter are Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, Representative Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, Senator Katy Duhigg, Senator Natalie Figueroa, Senator Linda Trujillo, Representative Marianna Anaya, Representative Tara Lujan, Representative Andrea Romero, and Representative Debbie Sariñana.

A 2025 New York Times investigation found roughly 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct tied to Uber trips from 2017 to 2022 – about one every eight minutes. Juries in Arizona and North Carolina have found Uber liable in driver sexual-assault cases this year, and thousands of survivor claims are consolidated in federal court. The amendment’s retroactive reach would extend its shield even to harm that occurred before enactment.