WA taxi drivers wait on Uber class action payout

Ride share giant Uber is to pay almost $272 million to settle a class action by taxi plate owners and drivers smashed by its allegedly unlawful Australian entry last decade. The average payment among the 8800-plus participants will average just $17,100 after litigation funders pocket an $81.5m cut and law firm Maurice Blackburn enjoy a $38.9m no-win, no-fee payday. The settlement was struck in March on the eve of a Melbourne trial to deal with hotly contested allegations made in 2019 that Uber subsidiaries engaged in an unlawful conspiracy when introducing UberX into Victoria, NSW, Queensland and WA. Victorian Supreme Court judge Patricia Matthews approved the settlement despite objections from people who complained likely payouts would not be enough to cover their losses. In a judgment published Monday, Justice Matthews quoted the owner of taxi licences in Brisbane as saying Uber had cost his family around $1 million. A NSW plate owner complained about the settlement saying it was “barely one twentieth of what I was expecting and thought would be reasonable”. Pointing to objections from 50 complainants, Justice Matthew said some objectors complained of having to work longer hours for fewer fares to make ends meet. “For some objectors, ownership of a taxi licence was their retirement plan,” she said. “For many group members, the stress caused by their financial hardship had a detrimental impact on their health and interpersonal relationships.” While acknowledging these concerns, Justice Matthews said the case against Uber was complex and “there were substantial risks associated with most elements”. She was not aware of an Australian class action having involved these issues. The case was based on allegations that Uber companies agreed to operate the ride-sharing business contrary to business regulations between 2014 and 2017. “Given the significant risks associated with going to trial . . . I am satisfied that the quantum of the proposed settlement is within the range of fair and reasonable outcomes in all the circumstances,” she said. The ruling opens the way for a distribution process where individual claims will be assessed based on entitlements under taxi ownership, leasing, operator, driver and network service provider categories. Maurice Blackburn now has to ask the WA Supreme Court to rubber stamp the deal because a matching action was launched in Perth in 2020 to avoid some claims being hit by the State’s statute of limitations.