Rideshare company Uber has agreed to pay more than $270 million dollars to settle a legal case with taxi drivers who claimed they've been under-cut by the tech giant. The drivers say their livelihoods were wrecked by the company which launched in Australia and bypassed regulations.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Fighting for a fare that's fair.
00:05 Taxi driver Nick Andreanakis is the face of a class action that took Uber to court.
00:10 This was a win for taxi drivers, taxi operators, high car operators.
00:16 Today the company agreed to settle and pay the drivers more than $270 million.
00:22 Plaintiffs from four states sued the tech giant, arguing they were literally driven
00:26 out of business because Uber was unregulated and had an unfair competitive advantage.
00:32 Uber used unlicensed cars with unaccredited drivers.
00:38 Uber said that was innovation, we said it was illegal.
00:42 What can you say in terms of Uber's decision, your client's decision to settle this matter
00:45 now?
00:46 I can say nothing because I'm embarrassed of it.
00:48 There's still some way to go to divide up the $272 million payment.
00:53 Law firm Morris Blackburn will take a cut of about $35 million, leaving the 8,500 class
01:00 action members with an average payout of about $28,000.
01:05 There's likely to be even more deductions, but this pre-trial settlement brings the case
01:09 closer to the end.
01:11 I'm happy because it will happen sooner, we'll get compensated sooner and we can just move
01:14 on from that instead of just beating around the bush.
01:17 This case won't affect whether you can hire a rideshare app or jump into a taxi in the
01:22 future.
01:23 All sides agree that the industry has changed, but the taxi drivers say this win is about
01:28 compensating them for their losses.
01:30 I lost my plates that were worth half a million dollars each and I lost my income that provided
01:37 food on the table.
01:39 Once formalised, the settlement will be one of the largest in Australian history.
01:43 Yeah.
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]