Federal Judge Throws Out Uber Driver Class-Action Settlement Offer

The proposed settlement was for a minimum of $84 million, with an additional $16 million payout after a successful Uber public offering on Wall Street. The deal would have affected roughly 385,000 current and former drivers in California and MA. Previously a driver could face deactivation if they declined a certain amount of trips.

The drivers and their lawyer had reached a settlement with Uber in April.

But it’s possible the lawsuit could collapse and Uber would walk away without paying the 385,000 drivers anything, as Bloomberg pointed out. In addition they would happen to be allowed to show signs in their own automobiles requesting suggestions from passengers. It would also be required to publish a “driver deactivation policy”, and create an appeals panel in both states for drivers who feel they were wrongfully terminated. In the settlement, the drivers were denied employee status. One option is for Uber to negotiate a new settlement with drivers. The ride-hailing company had agreed to variety of policy changes, including a clearer policy for terminating drivers, funding and meeting with driver-led associations in California and MA, and clarifying to passengers that tips are not included. “In other words, Uber may be permitting tipping, but it is also telling riders not to tip, further decreasing the amount of tips that riders are likely to give”.

But on Thursday, PAGA also killed that proposed settlement, at least for now. “If not, and if the arbitration issue goes badly, then most drivers will be left to individually arbitrate their claims”. The company may be hard-pressed to block Price case from proceeding as a class action, she said. In return, lawyers representing the drivers agreed to drop their effort to get courts to recognize Uber drivers as employees, rather than independent contractors.

“He said there are factors that support either side”. The remaining drivers would have to file arbitration claims against Uber one at a time. The court saw no reason why a potential 90% discount would be justified in this case, especially since Uber stood as much of a chance of losing at trial as the plaintiffs did.

Liss-Riordan told Chen in a June 17 filing that if the US Court of Appeals overturns a ruling by him that invalidated Uber’s arbitration agreements with drivers in a different case, the result would be to eviscerate her class action, reducing it to “a few thousand drivers”.

With the rejection, the case might go through a high-profile jury trial, unless another settlement is reached with the drivers.

Provide drivers with more information about their individual ratings, which are chosen by the users, and how it compares to their peers.

“The settlement, mutually agreed by both sides, was fair and reasonable”, an Uber spokeswoman wrote in an emailed response. If the court declares that Uber’s arbitration clause holds, Uber may choose not to renegotiate the current settlement and instead take the chance of going to trial with a much smaller class of drivers to be covered by any decision.

“The parties are due back in court on September 15”.