In the Lawsuit brought by Australian taxi operators and drivers which they say they’ve lost income when UBER moved into their country, UBER is said to have agreed to pay A$271.8m ($178m) to settle the lawsuit.
While citing that Uber is breaking laws requiring taxis and rental cars to be licensed, the suit is said to be filed on behalf of more than 8,000 taxis and hire car owners and has been in the Supreme Court of Victoria since 2019.
This settlement as said by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers is described as Australia’s fifth-largest.
The law of requiring taxis and rental to be licensed was discarded by the arrival of UBER in the country hence, the outrage of having paid heavily for their own taxis licenses.
Maurice Blackburn Principal, Michael Donelly said in a statement that, “Uber fought tooth and nail at every point along the way, after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked.”
Reports from an Uber spokesperson via email said Uber had contributed immensely to state-level taxis compensation schemes since 2018 “and with today’s proposed settlement, we put these legacy issues firmly in our past.”
The law amendment which was made in 2015 enabled Uber operate without licenses, although state governments has compensation schemes for taxi drivers and licences owners.