Uber Agrees to $1.8M Airport Fee Class Action Settlement

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Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $1.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the mobile app company of charging California customers an “airport fee toll” that was supposed to go to the airport, but was allegedly kept by the drivers.

Lead plaintiff Vamsi Tadepalli filed the Uber class action lawsuit after being charged a $4 airport fee toll when a mobile app driver dropped him off at San Francisco International Airport. Tadepalli alleges that the $4 fee is not given to various California airports but instead is pocketed by the Uber drivers.

The Uber airport fee class action lawsuit claims that passengers were informed that the extra toll charge was merely a “pass through” fee that was charged by and paid to the airport. However, Tadepalli alleges that the money for airport pick-ups and drop-offs went directly to Uber drivers.

According to the terms of the proposed Uber class action lawsuit settlement, the transportation network company has agreed to credit or refund 100 percent of those fees to all future Class Members. In addition, Uber has agreed to reimburse all passengers who were charged a California airport fee separately from the counsel fees so that Class Members do not have to bear the cost of those fees.

Tadepalli claims that Uber not only keeps email addresses of all potential Class Members but 90 percent of Class Members would have used the Uber app within the last year. The Uber class action lawsuit estimates that about 355,000 Class Members will benefit from the Uber class action settlement. 

The proposed $1.8 million Uber class action settlement will first go before the court to determine if the financial range is considered fair and reasonable. Tadepalli suggested that U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James schedule a timeline that includes a Dec. 10 preliminary fairness hearing and a March 10, 2016 final settlement hearing.

Although Uber has agreed to the airport fee class action lawsuit settlement, the mobile app company has denied all allegations that they misrepresented the nature of the airport fee.

More information about the Uber airport fee class action settlement was not immediately available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

Tadepalli is represented by Todd M. Schneider of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky Wotkyns LLP, John Roddy and Elizabeth Ryan of Bailey & Glasser LLP and Pedro Jaile of Jaile & Trifilo LLC.

The Uber Airport Fee Class Action Lawsuit Settlement is Vamsi Tadepalli, et al. v. Uber Technologies Inc., Case No. 15-cv-04348, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.