UBER UPDATE INTL
LAWSUIT IS ‘LARGEST’ CLASS ACTION IN AUSTRALIA
A major class action against Uber will be opened up to another three states, which could make it the largest class action in Aus- tralian history. Law firm Maurice Blackburn is widening its Victorian lawsuit against Uber to thousands of taxi and hire-car drivers, operators and licence holders in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia. Lawyers will allege the ride-sharing company engaged in conspira- cy by unlawful means, causing harm to drivers and operators in the industry. The case, which will be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court, has 1,200 people registered in Victoria so far. Tens of thou- sands more people are expected to register, with the law firm counting nearly 40,000 drivers and nearly 22,000 taxi and hire-car licence owners across the four states. Maurice Blackburn senior associate Elizabeth O’Shea believes that if the class action is successful, Uber could be forced to pay “hun- dreds of millions of dollars”. She said the settlement could be bigger than the largest class action in the country’s history – a case in 2014 that won thousands of Black Saturday bushfire victims in Victoria $700 million in compensation. In the case against Uber, lawyers will seek compensation for the loss of driver income between the time of Uber entering the market in early 2014, and the taxi industry being deregulated. Lawyers will also seek compensation for the devaluing of taxi and hire car licence plates since 2014. Ms O’Shea said Uber should not be allowed to “come in and not comply with the rules and get an advantage”. “It’s quite clear that they managed to obtain market share and build their business by operating unlawfully,” she told the Sydney Herald. The firm expects to file the case by late this year or early next year and was confident it would be successful, Ms O’Shea said. “We are working with a team of very senior barristers who have confirmed the conclusion that we have come to ourselves,” she said. “We think we have a good legal argument.” NSW Taxi Council’s chief executive Martin Rogers said the state gov- ernment’s $250 million “industry adjustment package”, which paid taxi licence plate owners $20,000 per plate – an arrangement that was capped at two plates – had left a “majority” of people out of pocket. “This has left people devastated, they have lost over $200,000 on an asset that for many was their superannuation,” Mr Rogers said. Cabs2000’s managing director Shane Holley in Queensland said taxi drivers were significantly disadvantaged when Uber entered the market. “The damage was massive and it was almost instanta- neous,” he said. “We lost revenue through our customers. They had a big push to gain market share and it had a flow-on effect.” An Uber spokeswoman said despite a number of media stories about the case, the company had not received any notification of a class action.“We are focusing our efforts on delivering a great ser- vice to riders and drivers in the cities where we operate,” she said.
LANDMARK COURT RULING PUTS SAFETY UNDER MICROSCOPE IN AUSTRALIA
The body representing ride share drivers is calling for tougher reg- ulations to address fatigue, revealing Uber drivers are able to circumvent a safety feature designed to limit driving hours. It comes as an Uber driver was found guilty of negligent driving
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occasioning death after his passenger, Samuel Thomas, was killed while getting out of the vehicle in June last year. Nazrul Islam, who had disrupted sleep in the hours before the inci- dent, said he did not hear the car door open, or see the interior light turn on before taking off while his back-seat passenger was halfway out of the vehicle. According to ABC News, Islam said he had been driving for 21 hours before the incident, with seven hours’ sleep split into two lots. In court last month, Magistrate Mary Ryan said: “The only explanation is that Mr Islam was much more fatigued than he admitted.” Just months after the death, Uber introduced a safety feature to its app, taking drivers offline for six hours after they had driven 12 hours in one shift. President of the Ride Share Drivers’ Association of Australia, Rosali- na Kariotakis, said not enough was being done to protect Australia’s 90,000 ride share drivers and their passengers. She praised Uber for acting quickly following the tragedy, but said the app’s safety feature was not effective at stopping drivers after 12 hours. “I’ve even tested it myself, we can continue to accept jobs up to 14 or 15 hours straight because the app stops calculating when you’re stopped at traffic lights or for a passenger pickup,” she said. Ms Kariotakis said after driving for 11 hours straight, she found her- self struggling with fatigue and “would not do that again”. “As a drivers’ association we are quite concerned ... because we believe the timer should start from the time that the driver logs on to the time the driver logs off, with no respect to how many times they stop or start because they’re consistently stopping and start- ing waiting for passengers all the time.” She called for greater regulation on the ride share industry and said it was not good enough for the companies to police themselves. “We believe that it needs to be enforced perhaps at a government level,” she said. “Most experienced drivers currently work for two or three entities at so it would be very hard for Uber to manage what that driver is doing outside of that app.” The creation of a centralised portal that tracked driver hours across multiple apps could help to address the problem, she said. Ms Kar- iotakis said she was also concerned with how to police people who work a full day in another job and then do a 12-hour driving shift. Transport Workers Union boss Tony Sheldon said more responsibil- ity must be placed on ride sharing companies such as Uber. “Uber controls the hours they do, it incentivises and allocates the work and drivers have to take that work to try to put food on their table,” he said. Ms Kariotakis said the driver should not have been solely responsi- ble for his passenger’s death. An Uber spokesperson said its Community Guidelines reminded drivers that “sleep is the only true preventative measure against the risks of drowsy driving”. “While no form of transportation is 100 per cent free of incidents, we are committed to doing our part and promoting the safe use of our app, tackling tough issues, and working with experts and stake- holders to improve safety,” they said.
MINIMUM PAY SET FOR APP-BASED DRIVERS
New York City taxi regulators approved new pay standards for app- based car services last month that they say will raise drivers’ annual earnings by $10,000 a year, making it the first U.S. city to set such minimum pay standards. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission approved the rules that will establish a per-minute and per-mile payment formula for Uber, Lyft, Via and Gett. The formula is supposed to result in drivers earn-
JANUARY 2019
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