SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Five drivers are suing Uber, alleging it breached driver contracts by taking certain fees out of the fares drivers charged riders.
Chuck Congdon, Ryan Cowden, Anthony Martinez, Jason Rosenberg, and Jorge Zuniga, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class action lawsuit May 9 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California San Francisco Division against Uber Technologies Inc., Rasier LLC and Rasier-CA LLC, alleging breach of contract.
To help fund operating costs for the "Safe Rides" program, which subjected Uber drivers to background checks beginning in April 2014, Uber instituted a "Safe Rides fee" on each ride, the suit says. Uber provided that the riders, not the drivers, would pay the $1 safe rides fee.
However, despite the terms of its written contracts, the complaint states, Uber took Safe Rides fee charges out of the drivers' fares on the occasions when the drivers charged riders minimum fares.
The plaintiffs and others in the class seek a jury trial, declaratory and injunctive relief, actual damages, interests, attorney fees and costs. They are represented by attorneys Andrew A. August of Browne George Ross in San Francisco, Mark A. Morrison of Morrison and Associates in Seattle, and John G. Crabtree, Charles M. Auslander, Brian C. Tackenberg and George R. Baise of Crabtree & Auslander in Key Biscayne, Florida.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California San Francisco Division Case number 3:16-CV-02499-MEJ