Calif. officials uphold ex-Uber driver’s right to apply for unemployment benefits

There’s no love lost between traditional cab companies and newer ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft.

“At the end of the day there’s no real way the state can let its consumers know that A. we’ve tested the technology and the time that it measures and the distance that it measures is accurate and trustworthy”, said Andrews. The lawsuit asks Judge George Reynolds to require DHSMV to treat Uber and Lyft as cab companies.

That puts the taxi drivers at an economic disadvantage, alleges the lawsuit, filed by Tallahassee lawyers Steven Andrews; his son, Ryan Andrews, and Brian Finnerty.

“However, one is tested and certified by the Department of Agriculture and the other is not”.

The cab companies alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is allowing drivers for the transportation services – the taxis’ main competitors in an increasingly fierce ride-sharing war – to operate without the kind of insurance required by law for commercial drivers.

In making its decision, the board pointed to a lack of regulations in other jurisdictions and the potential for statewide legislation regarding transportation network companies such as Uber.

Two taxi companies sued Florida’s Department of Agriculture Tuesday. To press the point, the lawsuit used a case from April of a woman in Brooklyn who was charged $16,000 for a ride to Manhattan. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. The lawsuit says that the state has failed to enforce insurance requirements for for-hire vehicles like taxis and limousines on ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft. Neither did representatives of Uber or Lyft. “I came here hoping Uber wouldn’t be run out of town”, Atwell said.

That is the newest in an ongoing struggle over the federal government’s position in regulating Uber and Lyft.

“There have been efforts for the last couple years to legislate.

Thus, the James River policy acts to insure only Uber related activities, which (a section of Florida law) does not permit even with the most strained reading of the statute”, wrote the lawyers, who represent B & L Service and Capital Transportation, cab companies based in Broward County and Tallahassee. Section 23 of the regulations say, “Unless otherwise authorized by the Authority, each applicant for a permit or for the transfer of a permit whose application has been granted must commence operations within 30 days after the date on which the permit was issued or transferred or the applicant forfeits the rights granted”.