Uber has agreed to pay $272 million (US$178 million) to Australian taxi drivers, in what will be the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australian legal history, according to lawyers acting for the plaintiffs.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers said the Supreme Court of Victoria will sit this morning, March 18, to finalise a case that began in 2019 as an action by a single Melbourne taxi driver, Nicos Andrianaki, but grew to include more than 8,000 other taxi and charter vehicle drivers.
They claimed they had lost income and that their licence value had decreased when Uber launched with cheaper and more convenient services, despite being unlicensed. The case was due to run until May 17 but Uber has agreed to settle.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers Principal Michael Donelly said in a statement that Uber had “fought tooth and nail at every point along the way, every day, for the five years this has been on foot, trying at every turn to deny our group members any form of remedy or compensation for their losses.”
“But on the courtroom steps and after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked, and thousands of everyday Australians joined together to stare down a global giant,” he said.
Among Top 5: Lawyer
Mr. Donelly said the settlement was among the top five class actions in Australian legal history.
“We are extremely proud that thousands of people put their faith in us and Nick Andrianakis and allowed us to do what we do best—holding to account major organisations that we say inflicted mass wrongs on people,” he said.
“A $271.8 million sum will finally put real money back into the accounts of people who have been devastated.”
Uber began operating in Sydney in 2012 despite there being no legal provision allowing it to do so, sparking angry protests from the taxi industry. Three years later, the Australian Capital Territory permitted rise sharing services to operate, followed by New South Wales (NSW) and then the rest of the country.
In NSW, the state government added a $1 levy for every trip, for up to five years, which went into a fund to compensate taxi licence owners.
‘Taxis are Finished’: Plaintiff
Speaking to ABC News in 2019, Mr. Andrianakis said he was forced out of business by Uber’s popularity.“My family has always been into taxis, my father drove taxis … my son drove taxis while he was at uni,” he said.
“But when Uber came to our shores illegally, like pirates, they broke every law, every regulation.”
He said he had walked away from the job one Friday night in Melbourne following an MCG game.
“I was outside the Swan Hotel and, normally, this is a very busy time for taxis,” he said. “I saw Ubers picking up and dropping off. Picking up and dropping off. I must have been there about an hour.
“My back door finally opened and a young lady got in and she said ‘Look, I’m sorry driver, I’m not going far’ … I said ’that’s OK, you got in my cab I’ll take you anywhere you like'.
“She said, ‘I would have got an Uber, but my phone’s gone flat’. And that was like a stake in my heart.”
That night, he said he rang his wife, telling her “the taxis are finished.”
