Uber pays $178 million to settle a lawsuit brought by taxi drivers in Australia

On Monday, Uber agreed to pay 271.8 million Australian dollars – about 178 million US dollars – to settle a lawsuit brought by taxi operators and drivers.

The settlement is the fifth largest in Australian history, and one of the most successful class actions against the ride-sharing giant, plaintiffs’ representatives said in a statement.

The director of the law firm that represented the plaintiffs, Michael Donnelly, said the settlement was preceded by a five-year legal battle that Uber “fought tooth and nail at every point along the way.

But in the courtrooms, after years of refusing to do the right thing, Uber backed down, and thousands of ordinary Australians united together to confront the global giant, Donnelly added.

History of the lawsuit against Uber:

The class action lawsuit began in 2019 after more than eight thousand taxi owners and drivers filed a formal claim in the Supreme Court in the state of Victoria.

Michael Donnelly, Maurice Blackburn’s lead lawyer, said that drivers and car owners lost income and the value of their licenses due to Uber’s aggressive entry into the market, and the company tried to deprive them of compensation in every way.

What our group members asked for was not another set of excuses and bright words, but action, Donnelly said.

Since 2018, Uber has made significant contributions to numerous nationwide taxi compensation plans, and with today’s proposed settlement we put these issues behind us, an Uber spokesperson said in an email response.

The spokesman added that ride-sharing regulations “didn’t exist anywhere in the world, let alone Australia” when the company first started.

Today is different. Uber is now licensed in every state and territory in Australia, and governments recognize us as an important part of the country’s transportation mix,” the statement said.