A federal court judge this week agreed to ban a Bay Area lawyer from appearing in court in a high-profile case against Uber, after the man directed vulgar insults at an attorney for the ride-hailing giant and made “inappropriate references” to his opponent’s daughter.
During a video meeting in the case — a consolidation of thousands of lawsuits by women alleging Uber failed to prevent them from being sexually assaulted by drivers — David Grimes, a lawyer representing plaintiffs against Uber, asked opposing attorney Christopher Cotton if he was a pedophile, compared him to a rapist, and called him a dirtbag, a scumbag, an idiot, and an epithet related to a sexual act, Cotton said in a court declaration.
“Mr. Grimes made inappropriate references to my daughter,” Cotton said of the March 9 meeting. “Mr. Grimes shouted his comments on several occasions, including shouting over me as I spoke.”
Grimes also asked Cotton’s colleague Ricky Brown, who joined Cotton in the meeting, “Is Chris touching you right now?” the declaration said.
Uber, in a court filing seeking to have Grimes thrown off the case, said the San Francisco attorney had also misbehaved earlier.
In a February 2025 meeting, Grimes made profane and insulting comments to another Uber lawyer, the filing said.
“Mr. Grimes’ conduct is beyond the pale,” Uber said in a court filing.
Court documents did not make clear what Grimes said about Cotton’s daughter.
Grimes, and the San Francisco law firm Levin Simes which employs him, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Levin Simes in a court filing admitted that Grimes’ conduct was “outrageous” and “improper.”
According to Grimes’ profile on Levin Simes’ website, he has “a diverse set of skills in finance, writing, and stage performance,” along with “a particular commitment to representing victims of sexual assaults by drivers for Uber.”
A day after insulting Cotton, Grimes emailed him and apologized for his conduct, saying it was not appropriate or professional, Cotton’s declaration said.
“By way of explanation, if not excuse, I have been suffering from a chronic condition for the past year and a half that causes my nervous system to leap into fight-or-flight mode very quickly, and it is very difficult to get it to disengage,” Grimes wrote, according to the declaration.
Starting this year, lawyers in California have been required by The State Bar of California, which oversees attorney licensing and discipline, to annually re-affirm a civility oath pledging to conduct themselves with “dignity, courtesy, and integrity.” The Bar, asked whether it had received any complaints about Grimes’ conduct in the Uber case, said disciplinary complaints and investigations are confidential, so it could not say if it had received complaints about Grimes or was investigating the matter.
The Bar as of May 8 had recorded no disciplinary actions against Grimes, a licensed California attorney since 2018, with a law degree from the University of Southern California.
On March 20, Levin Simes partner Laurel Simes wrote Judge Charles Breyer, who is overseeing the case, to say her firm had addressed the matter “directly with Mr. Grimes.” Since Grimes was an employee, she wrote, the firm was “not at liberty to discuss the specifics of any of the personal issues that may underlie his conduct.” Simes said her firm was “working to provide resources to Mr. Grimes which might be helpful to him,” and taking measures “to ensure that any such conduct is not repeated.”
Meanwhile, Levin Simes sought to keep Grimes on the case, saying in a March 25 court filing that Laurel Simes, after coming into Grimes’s office while he was on video with Cotton and Brown, “immediately intervened after observing the situation … and directed that the Zoom meeting be terminated.” The firm said in the filing that Grimes had represented clients in the case for several years, and suggested that his removal could disadvantage those plaintiffs and benefit Uber.
The law firm proposed that Grimes no longer appear in court in person for the case, and avoid interacting with Uber’s lawyers.
However, on Wednesday the firm and Uber filed a joint request with Breyer to allow Grimes to stay on the case, and Breyer gave his approval Thursday.
The requested limitations Uber had agreed to were the same Levin Simes had proposed, but with one additional restriction: Grimes would not be able to appear in court by video, either.
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