Judge Sides With Drivers on Class Cert and Claims Uber Shortchanged Them
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Thursday found that
Uber’s agreement with drivers didn’t allow the company to deduct its $1
"Safe Rides" fee from the total used to calculate what drivers received
from short, low-fare rides.
By Ross Todd | March 09, 2018
Uber has lost its bid to knock out a class
action lawsuit brought on behalf of
drivers who claim the company
shortchanged them on minimum fare
rides after it instituted its “Safe Rides”
fee in 2014.
In a 19-page order
(https://images.law.com/contrib/content/uploads/sites/403/documents/403/11665/CongdonvUber.U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California on
Thursday found Uber Technologies Inc.’s agreement with drivers didn’t allow for the
company to deduct the $1 fee from the total used to calculate what drivers received
from short rides that resulted in customers being charged a set minimum fee.
Uber’s lawyers at Morrison & Foerster had argued
(https://images.law.com/contrib/content/uploads/sites/403/documents/403/11665/UberCongdonOppo.company bumped up the minimum fare by $1 in April 2014 when it instituted the
Safe Rides fee, which the company said would be spent on things like driver
background checks and additional driver training. The boost in the minimum fare,
Uber argued, resulted in drivers receiving the same payout as before. But that
argument didn’t pass muster with the judge, who sided with the plaintiffs’ reading of
the contract.
“Nothing in the agreement provides a formula for Uber to deduct $1.00 from the
minimum fare and then deduct another 20 percentfrom the balance,” wrote Rogers,
granting the plaintiffs motions for summary judgment
(https://images.law.com/contrib/content/uploads/documents/403/11665/UberCongdonClassCertMotion.and class certification
(https://images.law.com/contrib/content/uploads/sites/403/documents/403/11665/UberCongdonClassCert.“The fact that Uber chose not to follow the precise terms of the agreement for the 19
months of the class period and is now attempting to rationalize its conduct is not
relevant to the instant claim,” she wrote.
A spokesman for Uber said the company is reviewing the decision.
The lead plaintiffs lawyer, John Crabtree of Crabtree &
Auslander in Key Biscayne, Florida, said this appears to be
the first national class action that Uber has lost on the
merits.
“We’re pretty excited about that, to be honest,” he said.
The ruling, however, will cover only a fraction of the
400,000-plus drivers who completed minimum fare drives
for Uber during the covered period, since the class is
limited to those drivers who opted out of Uber’s
arbitration agreement.
Crabtree said that about 9,500 “very astute” drivers had
opted out and that Uber underpaid those drivers by about
$1.4 million. Crabtree said that because the drivers are pursuing a conversion claim,
they can ask for punitive damages.
“That’s a jury question,” said Crabtree, of the decision to award punitive damages.
“We’re going to go and try the case and see what happens.”
Crabtree said the 400,000 or so drivers who are subject to the arbitration agreement
who would have similar claims to the class aren’t likely to pay the $2,000 arbitration
filing fee to pursue claims that are in most instances less than $300. “Nobody is
going to do that,” he said.
In Thursday’s order, Rogers appointed Crabtree’s firm as class counsel alongside
local counsel at Browne George Ross, and Seattle-based class action lawyer Mark
Morrison.