Uber will pay Australian taxi drivers a $271m settlement in a major class action expected to be finalised in court on Monday.
The class action involves more than 8000 taxi and hire car owners and was sparked by what the drivers’ lawyers called Uber’s aggressive move into the Australian market, diminishing the existing drivers’ income and licence values.
The drivers’ law firm, Maurice Blackburn, says the $271.8m agreement is the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australian history.
Maurice Blackburn principal Michael Donelly said Uber “fought tooth and nail at every point along the way, every day, for the five years this has been on foot, trying at every turn to deny our group members any form of remedy or compensation for their losses”.
“But on the courtroom steps and after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked, and thousands of everyday Australians joined together to stare down a global giant,” Mr Donelly said.
Melbourne cabbie Nick Andrianakis was lead plaintiff in the case.
In 2019 when the suit was gaining plaintiffs, it was speculated the drivers could pursue up to a $1bn settlement.
“It’s a shocking thing to think of a life’s work being stripped away from you, but this is what’s happened to thousands of people nationwide,” Mr Andrianakis previously said.
It was previously reported the drivers’ legal costs were underwritten by a third party litigation funder.
Mr Andrianakis and Maurice Blackburn lawyers are expected to address the media outside court in Melbourne on Monday morning.