Uber has agreed to pay over $272 million to taxi and hire-car drivers who suffered losses as a result of the ridesharing company’s “aggressive” entry into the Australian market.
Judge Lisa Nichols canceled a class action lawsuit against Uber that was scheduled to go to trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Monday after the ride-sharing behemoth accepted the $271.8 million settlement.
Following what Maurice Blackburn Lawyers described as five “grueling” years since it began the legal struggle on behalf of more than 8,000 taxi and hire-car owners and drivers, it was the fifth-largest class-action settlement in Australia’s history.
Uber’s rapid entry into the market cost drivers and car owners money and reduced the value of their licenses, and the corporation made every effort to refuse them reimbursement, according to Michael Donelly, principle counsel at Maurice Blackburn.
The Uber files: the company lobbied governments to amend the law after realizing it had debuted illegally in Australia.
Continue reading
Before the settlement is finally paid out, the Supreme Court must legally approve it.
Donelly remarked outside of court on Monday, “To our group members in the Australian taxi and hire-car industry, your story is an Australian story.”
“You manage the family business, which has been passed down from parents to children. For successive generations of Australian immigrants to this nation trying to establish an economic base, you have served as their landing place.
“They said that when Uber came to town, the game was up and it was your turn to be disrupted in the new economy, but you knew what was right and wrong, what was legal and what wasn’t, and you stood up for yourselves.”
For your daily news summary, subscribe to Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters.
Attorneys contended that Uber X entered the Australian market with the goal of harming local drivers of taxis and hire cars.
Additionally, attorneys claimed that the firm misled regulators, geoblocked authorities, and engaged in a “conspiracy by unlawful means” involving unregistered automobiles driven by unaccredited drivers.
The settlement agreement, according to lead plaintiff Nick Andrianakis, a former long-time taxi driver, is a victory for the industry, which Uber’s activities “decimated.”
The class action concerns complaints from taxi and hire-car drivers, which an Uber representative referred to as “legacy issues.”
Regulations for ridesharing were nonexistent worldwide when the company was founded over ten years ago.
According to an Uber representative, the company is now regulated in every Australian state and territory, and the government acknowledges its significance in the transportation mix.
“Ridesharing’s growth has boosted Australia’s point-to-point transport sector overall, offering hundreds of thousands of Australian workers new income opportunities in addition to more choices and better experiences for customers,” he said.
“Uber has made major contributions to numerous state-level taxi compensation programs since 2018, and with today’s proposed settlement, we firmly put these legacy issues in the past.
“Our goal will remain to provide safe, cost-effective, and dependable transportation options for the millions of Australians who use Uber to get from point A to point B.”
According to Donelly, the class action was successful when other lawsuits against state governments in Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia had been unsuccessful.
In April, the Supreme Court is anticipated to consider an application for approval of the class action settlement.
Taxi Apps Pty Ltd is the plaintiff in another non-class action proceeding, which is still pending and scheduled for trial in the upcoming weeks.
Who among us despises the Guardian?
The world is becoming more unequal than it was before due to the billionaires.
Discord and false information are being disseminated by populist politicians.
The executives of fossil fuels, watching as their earnings soar while the planet burns.
Without any oversight, the tech giants are reshaping the world around us.
And who is it who likes us? Individuals who support a free press. those who think everyone should have access to the truth. as well as those who understand how critical it is to confront those in authority and influence, particularly in Pakistan. Does it describe you?
The Guardian is aware that not everyone can afford to subscribe in order to stay current on the significant stories that are reshaping our world.
For this reason, even if high-quality journalism can be expensive, we nonetheless decide to let you read ours.
However, we need your assistance to raise funds for our mission.
Will you decide to come over here today? It takes a minute or so. Contribute monthly to open, independent news. I’m grateful.