The Supreme court of Victoria on 18 March 2024, directed the Rideshare company Uber to pay $271.8 million to Australian taxi drivers who have suffered financially since the ride share giant’s entry into the market since its inception on 2009. Uber, headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2009, operates in over 70 countries and more than 10,000 cities worldwide.
The class action was filed by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers representing more than 8,000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers in 2019.
The lawsuit claimed that they experienced a loss of income due to the aggressive expansion of the ride-hailing giant into the country. The settlement is a fifth largest in the class action history in Australia. The key allegation was that by launching UberX, Uber used unlicensed cars and unaccredited drivers and this brought a huge loss for the authorised drivers and also hit other conventional drivers.
Uber has been facing a series of litigation around the world since its launch in 2009 which includes passengers, governments and its own drivers though it made significant contributions to the concept of travel and commutation on technology basis and in providing a next level strategical facility.
There was always a feud between Uber drivers and conventional taxi operators. But however, the company steadily gained regulatory approvals from the authorities to operate in countries around the world.
The lawsuit in Australia alleged that Uber had operated illegally in four of the country’s six states — Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia — using vehicles and drivers without the necessary licenses and accreditations.
In December 2023, the company emerged victorious in a lawsuit brought against it by 2,500 taxi drivers in France. A commercial court in Paris determined that Uber had not engaged in unfair competition.
The taxi drivers had pursued $495.4 million in damages.
