Aussie Taxi Drivers Win $178M From Uber "Pirates"

Uber agrees to pay A$271.8 million ($178.3 million) to settle a lawsuit in Australia brought by lawyers representing taxi companies and drivers.

The company had been facing a fierce legal challenge by Australian law firm, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, on behalf of more than 8,000 taxi operators and drivers, BBC News reports. The firm claimed their clients had lost income when the ride-hailing giant “aggressively” moved into the country and “acted like pirates.”

The class action was filed against Uber in 2019 in the Supreme Court of Australia's Victoria state. The firm’s principal lawyer, Michael Donelly, says: “Uber fought tooth and nail at every point along the way. This case succeeded where so many others have failed. In Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, cases were brought against governments and all of them failed. What our group members asked for was not another set of excuses but an outcome, and today we have delivered it for them.”

Before any payout can be made, the court still needs to approve the proposed settlement as being in the best interests of group members. An Uber statement reads: “Since 2018, Uber has made significant contributions into various state-level taxi compensation schemes, and with today's proposed settlement, we put these legacy issues firmly in our past.”

The company can only operate as a regulated taxi service in the European Union and is not allowed to use freelance drivers in its operations.