Feb 17 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies ( UBER ) is owed attorney fees after a

lawyer representing passengers in litigation over alleged sexual abuse by the company's drivers

used confidential corporate information in other lawsuits against the rideshare giant, a federal

judge in San Francisco ruled Tuesday.

Bret ​Stanley of the Johnson Law Group was ordered by ‌U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros to

pay Uber ( UBER ) $30,000 within 30 days as a sanction for violating a protective order covering

materials produced ⁠during evidence gathering in the case.

Stanley is among a group of attorneys representing passengers in ⁠the consolidated litigation

who accuse Uber ( UBER ) of failing to conduct adequate background ‌checks on its ‌drivers or implement

appropriate safety measures. Uber ( UBER ) has denied wrongdoing, arguing in part that its drivers are

independent contractors rather than employees.

Stanley ​violated the protective order by disclosing the confidential ‌names of certain Uber ( UBER )

internal policies in other, unrelated lawsuits and to other plaintiffs attorneys, Cisneros said.

Uber ( UBER ) claimed Stanley used the disclosures as roadmap for ​seeking evidence in other lawsuits.

An Uber ( UBER ) spokesperson said ​in a ‌statement that Stanley disregarded the law "by treating

confidential discovery documents as a litigation war chest for unrelated cases."

Stanley had no immediate comment.

Cisneros said it was "impermissible and unreasonable" for ⁠Stanley to determine that his

opponents' confidential documents could be disclosed outside the case. "Some ⁠sanction is

warranted for Stanley's unilateral disclosures," the judge wrote.

Cisneros rejected Uber's ( UBER ) demand that Stanley pay more than $168,000 in attorney fees,

however, finding the request excessive. The judge said Uber ( UBER ) had not shown it was harmed by

Stanley disclosing the names of its policies.

"To the extent that any public ⁠exposure resulted, ‌it occurred only temporarily on the docket

of a New Jersey state ‌trial court, with no indication that either those disclosures or that case

more generally attracted any ⁠public attention," Cisneros said.

The judge said Stanley must also pay a yet-to-be-determined amount of attorney fees in

connection with a second sanctions request by the company, finding that he searched through

documents in the case in order to use them in a separate lawsuit.

A federal jury in the consolidated Uber ( UBER ) litigation earlier this month ordered the company to

pay $8.5 million to a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by ​a driver when she was 19.

The case is In re: Uber Technologies, Inc. ( UBER ), Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation, U.S.

District Court for the Northern District of California, 3:23-md-03084

For plaintiffs: Bret Stanley of Johnson ​Law Group

For Uber ( UBER ): Laura Vartain, Allison ‌Brown and Jessica Davidson of Kirkland & Ellis; and

Michael Shortnacy of Shook, ​Hardy & Bacon