Uber Technologies, an American company that offers transportation services for hire, has been hit with a $59US million fine for failing to provide answers to the California Public Utilities Commission in relation to a report that identified serious safety issues with the service.

The company, and subsequent fine, which is payable to the California Public Utilities Commission, could face the suspension of their license based on the ruling issued on Monday by an administrative law judge.

The ruling is just another development in Uber’s history of legal trouble relating to assaults and violence between passengers and drivers. This is a troubling issue that is shared by its competitor, Lyft shares, and one that must be addressed.

At the time of publishing, Uber had yet to respond to requests that it provide comments on the latest ruling. The ruling and its contents were initially reported earlier by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Report detailed thousands of sexual assaults

Uber has faced harsh criticism of its hiring practises over the years, but the latest report details a history of disturbing physical and sexual assaults. The report, which many have called “jarring” outlined multiple assists during trips using the Uber service in 2017 and 2018.

While it was noted that the report included a large amount of aggregate data, the California Public Utilities Commission requested additional information after its release. This became even more so after Uber admitted that the reports fine print failed to access whether any of the incidents took place.

As a regulatory authority, it is the responsibility of the California Public Utilities Commission to investigate any complaints against those companies operating within the state. Therefore, based o the report, the commission asked the lift sharing service questions pertaining to the author of the report and requested further details about each of the assaults that were contained within the report.

Unfortunately, Uber has refused to answer any questions stating privacy issues, and that disclosure would reveal information about employees and assault survivors. It is unknown how long Uber has to respond and whether the commission will suspend their licenses for failure to do so.