Uber Class Action Update

This week Transport Alliance Australia received an update from Maurice Blackburn lawyers on the status of the class action and what's been happening in court over the last few months.

Decision of the Court on 31 March 2020

You may recall that Uber made a number of applications that were heard in September last year, including objecting to the claim and even arguing that the court did not have the power to deal with the matter. As previously stated, these are tactics regularly used by defendants to delay cases and came as no surprise to the lawyers running the case. It should be noted that these type of stalling tactics by defendants are also a key reason cases end up taking longer and costing more to run.

In a decision handed down on 31 March 2020, the judge made orders allowing the case to proceed and ordered the defendants to file a defence by 29 May 2020. Uber was also ordered to pay most of the costs associated with causing the latest delay.

Overall this was a very good outcome.

The defendants have now appealed the judge’s orders. Again this is frustrating and time consuming for the case, but not unexpected in terms of tactics used by large, powerful defendants.

Our lawyers at Maurice Blackburn will review the appeal documents as they come in and prepare a response. As yet there is no date for the appeal.

The class action has been listed for a further case management conference on 26 June 2020.

As a result of this decision, there are further steps that our lawyers will need to take to protect the claims of those people who have transferred their claims (because of bankruptcy or death, for example) or on behalf of companies that have been deregistered. The legal team at Maurice Blackburn has been in contact with many of the class members in this situation already, however, if your circumstances have changed, if you are an individual who has become bankrupt, a company which has deregistered or gone into administration or liquidation, or because someone has passed away, it is important you let them know so they can be sure the details for your claim are up to date.

Next Steps

Work continues on verifying registrations and developing an overall understanding of losses suffered by the class. The case management conference on 26 June 2020 will deal with administrative and scheduling matters with the aim of progressing the case efficiently.

Should you have any questions regarding the matter, please do not hesitate to contact Maurice Blackburn Lawyers on 1800 291 047 or email [email protected].