C.A. Goldberg, PLLC is investigating claims on behalf of the victims of Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews and dating app Hinge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 15, 2023
C.A. Goldberg, PLLC is now investigating claims on behalf of the victims of Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews. Matthews has been charged in 10 criminal cases of date rape and assault facilitated by dating app Hinge. C.A. Goldberg, PLLC is being retained by victims seeking to hold Hinge responsible.
As the first law firm in the country to sue dating apps for product liability claims, we find the extent of Hinge’s recklessness significant. Hinge’s product is defective in that it recklessly matches innocent people with criminals and fails to exclude abusive users or to warn people of the risks that other users can pose. Here, our clients are all women whose sexual assaults were foreseeable. Hinge matched them with a serial predator.
While we have not commented on our active cases against Hinge, a victim of Matthews told CBS in an article published on May 15 that after drinking with Matthews, she had no recollection of having sex with him and did not consent to engaging in sex. She explained that she is convinced she was drugged and pressed charges with Denver police (this victim is not represented by our firm).
Per CBS Colorado, “A paper trail of emails and text messages show Denver doctor Stephen Matthews, who was the subject of a rape accusation in September 2020, somehow managed to repeatedly maintain a profile on the dating app Hinge, even after a woman contacted the app to report.
Although Hinge administrators told the woman in 2020 and 2021 they had “banned” Matthews from their app, he somehow managed to maintain a presence on the app for three years and was able to meet and date numerous other women.” One victim was even matched again, months later, which the man who had raped and hospitalized her.
In follow-up reporting, CBS News Colorado found several other women recounting similar encounters with Matthews.
C.A. Goldberg, PLLC are investigating victims of this offender, and similar scenarios facilitated by Hinge.
This is not the first incidence C.A. Goldberg, PLLC has found where Hinge was notified by users that a sexual predator was operating on its dating app, and the predator continued using Hinge to match with additional victims– even after multiple and specific complaints had been made.
“Dating apps bear responsibility when they serve as catalogues for ready-to-order victims,” said C.A. Goldberg, PLLC founder Carrie Goldberg.
You can take action, alongside other survivors, to hold accountable tech companies that profit from matching sex predators with victims.
If you have been a victim of Stephen Matthews or dating app facilitated sexual assault on Hinge, we encourage you to contact C.A. Goldberg, PLLC to discuss your options free of charge at www.cagoldberglaw.com/contact or 646-666-8908.
Background:
- In the first large-scale study of the relationship between dating apps and sexual assault, BYU nursing professors found violent sexual predators are using dating apps as “hunting grounds” for victims.
- In 2020, Propublica published an investigation in to victims reporting attackers to platforms and hearing nothing in return, while their attackers profiles remained active. In that investigation Carrie Goldberg noted that Match Group – the parent company Hinge – has consistently fought state safety regulations and “proactively gets involved in litigations when they aren’t even named parties.” For example, submitting a “friend of the court” brief supporting the dating app Grindr in a case involving one of C.A. Goldberg PLLC’s clients.
C.A. Goldberg, PLLC represents victims of personal injury against tech companies, sexual assault, stalking, online child exploitation, employment discrimination, and more. Our sophisticated, creative team exclusively represents plaintiffs across the USA.
In 2014 our firm brought a cutting edge new legal theory against a tech platform involved in disseminating child sexual abuse material. We claimed the platform was unreasonably dangerous and the injury to our client was foreseeable.
Since then, we’ve used the product liability theory against almost every major platform: snap, amazon, uber, grindr, omegle, meta, tiktok, google, match group, tinder.
Over the years, we’ve sued these platforms for harms their platforms have facilitated including extreme stalking, impersonation, facilitating suicides, causing eating disorders, rape, murder, trafficking, matching sex predators with children, disseminating child sexual abuse material, publishing murder videos, sextortion, and more.
Our cases have created national precedent as the world has caught on that tech platforms are no different than any other company and should be held responsible for injuries their products cause.
Contact:
C.A. Goldberg, PLLC
www.cagoldberglaw.com
646-666-8908
Media contact: Caroline@cagoldberglaw.com
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