Tag Archives: Lyft
West Sacramento Family To Sue Lyft After Deadly Crash
by Vicki Gonzalez, KCRA 3 TV
The Lyft driver swerved to miss a stalled vehicle on the road just after passing Riverside Avenue and lost control, hitting two trees. … CHP labeled the Lyft driver as being “the cause” of [one of his passenger’s] death, recommending involuntary manslaughter charges to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. … [The other passenger and the dead man’s mother] believe Lyft is responsible, as both have filed separate lawsuits against the rideshare company. … “I would like to see ridesharing companies like Lyft be held accountable for when something goes wrong,” [the surviving passenger] said. Read More ›
Uber And Lyft Have Devastated L.A.’s Taxi Industry, City Records Show
by Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
Since the ride-hailing services began operating in Southern California three years ago, the number of L.A. taxi trips arranged in advance has fallen by 42%, according to city records, and the total number of trips has plummeted by nearly 30%. … The decline mirrors what’s happening across the country. … In San Francisco, the corporate home of both Uber and Lyft, the number of trips taken per taxi dropped by more than two-thirds over a two-year period. Read More ›
Lyft Drivers, If Employees, Owed Millions More – Court Documents
by Dan Levine and Heather Somerville, Reuters
Drivers who worked for ride-hailing service Lyft in California during the past four years would have been entitled to an estimated $126 million in expense reimbursements had they been employees rather than contractors, court documents show. … The judge asked for the estimates as part of his oversight of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by California drivers. … Lyft agreed to settle the class-action lawsuit in January. Under the proposed deal, Lyft would pay $12.25 million, with drivers receiving an average of $56 each after attorneys’ fees and other expenses, documents show. Read More ›
Garcetti Pushes Fingerprint-Based Background Checks For Uber And Lyft Drivers
by Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times
Last year, The Times reported that four Uber drivers ticketed by [Los Angeles] airport police had criminal histories that would have barred them from becoming city taxi drivers. Last year, the top prosecutors for Los Angeles and San Francisco identified 25 Uber drivers with convictions for murder, assault, driving under the influence and other offenses. That information emerged as part of a lawsuit filed by the cities that alleges Uber misled consumers over background checks. Read More ›
Uber Agrees To Settle Class-Action Suit Over Safety Claims
by Mike Isaac, New York TImes
Uber has agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that took issue with the company’s claims that its driver background checks were “industry leading.” The terms of the settlement, filed on Thursday in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, require Uber to pay roughly 25 million riders across the United States … Uber passengers who used the service in the United States between Jan. 1, 2013, and Jan. 31, 2016, will be notified by email and have the option to accept a refund in the form of a rider credit or a charge back to their credit card on file. Read More ›
State Legislators Call For Drastic Overhaul Of California’s Utility Regulator
by Melanie Mason and Jeff McDonald, Los Angeles Times
Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) said his measure would decentralize the California Public Utilities Commission’s oversight of myriad utilities, including electricity, railroad safety and ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft. … Gatto, chairman of the Assembly’s utilities committee, would give the Legislature two years to divvy up the functions of the commission among other agencies, which Gatto said would result in a more logical assignment of responsibilities. Read More ›
California Regulators Fine Uber $7.6 Million
by Bryan Goebel, KQED/California Report
California regulators slapped Uber with a $7.6 million fine Thursday, voting unanimously to affirm an administrative judge’s ruling that found the ride service company in contempt for failing to meet reporting requirements. … The detailed information that Uber failed to provide in 2014 had to do with driver safety, access for people with disabilities and how it was serving neighborhoods by zip code. Regulators have said Uber defied the reporting requirements and that the zip code information the company initially submitted was “useless.” Read More ›
Uber Drivers Get Big Boost In Lawsuit Against Company
by Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that even drivers who accepted mandatory arbitration in their Uber contract should be included in the [class-action suit], saying that clause was unenforceable. That means the majority of the 160,000 people who have ever driven for Uber in California are now part of the class. … If the drivers win, [their lawyer] has said she’ll next seek a nationwide class-action. … The Uber class-action is the furthest along of a bevy of lawsuits against companies such as Lyft, Postmates, Instacart, Caviar and Handy in which gig workers are seeking the protections and rights of employees. Read More ›
Uber Drivers Granted Class-Action Status In Legal Battle
by Tracey Lien, Los Angeles Times
Uber now stands to lose far more than if the case had proceeded as a suit involving only three plaintiffs. In addition to potentially being on the hook for back wages, sick leave, expenses and benefits, the company could be ordered to pay gratuities owed to thousands of former drivers. “We’re talking about millions of dollars,” said Lonnie Giamela of labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips. And that doesn’t even touch on what a loss would mean for Uber’s independent contractor-reliant business model, which has earned the company a $50-billion valuation. Read More ›
Uber Unleashes Lobbyists In California To Reshape Driver Rules
by Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg
Uber has spent almost a million dollars since 2013 on lobbyists in California. … Lyft, also based in San Francisco, has spent $362,000 on lobbying the legislature since 2013. … Some lawmakers say Uber is skirting rules that apply to similar businesses. “In California, we allow them to operate for free while we require many other businesses to pay for permits, franchising fees and licenses,” said Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, the sole vote against Low’s measure in May. “It’s beyond ridiculous what they’re getting away with.” Read More ›
Uber Should Be Suspended In California And Fined $7.3 Million, Judge Says
by Laura J. Nelson, Andrea Chang and Paresh Dave, Los Angeles Times
Uber — plagued by problems with regulators, drivers and taxi unions around the world — took a big blow in its home state Wednesday when an administrative judge recommended that the ride-sharing giant be fined $7.3 million and be suspended from operating in California. In her decision, chief administrative law judge Karen V. Clopton of the California Public Utilities Commission contended that Uber has not complied with state laws designed to ensure that drivers are doling out rides fairly to all passengers. Read More ›
Ridesharing Drivers Often Stuck In Insurance Limbo
by Alice Holbrook, NerdWallet
Uber executives’ access to customer ride logs came under scrutiny last year, when a company manager referenced a reporter’s log during an interview. Some users were also disturbed by Uber’s use of ride logs to compile a study on customer hookups in 2012. Critics complain that the bill would make essential functions of TNCs, like using GPS to locate passengers, illegal. But [Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California] likens the regulations to medical privacy laws. “Even in a hospital, not just everyone is allowed to look at your medical records.” Read More ›
Privacy Getting Taken For A Ride
by Samantha Gallegos, Capitol Weekly
Sponsored by the Consumer Federation of California, a non-profit consumer-rights advocacy group, [Assembly Member Ed] Chau’s bill would set up privacy standards related to “personally identifiable data” that [Transportation Network Companies] — like Uber or Lyft — would be required to follow. Those standards don’t exist now, Chau said. “I guess you could say, well, protecting some personal data is better than protecting none,” said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation. “Right now none is protected. And I don’t believe the flawed argument that Internet-based companies should have greater freedom than the other businesses who collect and share data.” Read More ›