Uber Agrees to Settle Two TCPA Class Action Lawsuits

Parties in two different Uber TCPA class action lawsuits have reached a settlement and are asking the court for more time to iron out the details.

On Wednesday, plaintiff Maria Vergara and defendant Uber Technologies Inc. filed a notice with an Illinois federal court seeking to cancel their status hearing scheduled for Friday.

The parties report they are working on a draft of the settlement to submit to the court for preliminary approval.

In March of this year, the parties asked the court to stay court proceedings while they began to work out a settlement agreement via mediation. The parties reached an agreement in principle this past May.

Terms of the Uber TCPA class action settlement will remain confidential until the parties submit the draft settlement and motion for preliminary approval to the court, according to the parties’ joint notice.

In this Uber TCPA class action lawsuit, Vergara alleges Uber sent her and the members of her proposed plaintiff Class several automatically-generated text messages, even though they had never consented to being contacted by Uber in that manner.

Vergara alleges those text messages were sent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a federal law designed to curb mass telemarketing.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act generally prohibits businesses from using certain automated equipment to send text messages or phone calls to mobile phones without the recipient’s prior express consent.

The TCPA allows affected persons to bring a civil action against the caller. Businesses found in violation of the TCPA can be on the hook for statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 for each call that violates the law.

In its motion to dismiss Vergara’s claims, Uber argued that neither Vergara nor her proposed Class Members could have received such text messages if they hadn’t agreed to receive them and given Uber their phone numbers. The fact that they received the messages is proof that they consented, the company claims.

Vergara’s action is just one of almost a dozen similar TCPA class action lawsuits pending against Uber. In one such action in a California court, the parties recently filed a notice of settlement similar to the one filed in Vergara’s case.

In that action, plaintiffs James Lathrop, Justin Bartolet, Jonathan Grindell and Jennifer Reilly allege they gave the company their phone numbers in the course of inquiring about becoming Uber drivers. Uber later sent them unsolicited text messages, they claim.

Those plaintiffs also accused Uber of stalling discovery in the summer of 2016, alleging that Uber gave incomplete responses to their requests for evidence.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Vergara is represented by attorneys Paul T. Geske, Myles McGuire, Evan M. Myers and David L. Gerbie of McGuire Law PC. Lathrop is represented by Hassan A. Zavareei, Andrea R. Gold, Andrew J. Silver and Kristen Law Sagafi of Tycko & Zavareei LLP.

The Uber TCPA Class Action Lawsuits are Vergara v. Uber Technologies Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-06942, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; Lathrop, et al. v. Uber Technologies Inc., Case No. 3:14-cv-05678, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Aug. 11, 2017, Uber Technologies Inc. agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class action lawsuit over allegations it sent unsolicited text messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

UPDATE 2: October 2017, the Uber text message spam class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 3: On Sept. 1, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail worth up to $127.24 from the Uber text message class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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