Uber Driver Seeks Approval of Upfront Pricing Class Action Settlement

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An Uber driver is seeking approval of a settlement deal that would end a class action lawsuit over the company’s upfront pricing model.

Lead plaintiff Martin Dulberg, who worked as a driver for Uber, seeks initial approval for a $345,622 settlement agreement that would end his class action lawsuit alleging that Uber insufficiently compensated driers.

Under the Uber class action settlement, Dulberg would receive $5,000 as a service payment.

In the Uber driver payment class action lawsuit, Dulberg claimed that Uber breached its own contract by only paying drivers based on the distance they drove, as opposed to paying them a percentage of the fees charged to passengers, which fluctuate based on time of day and demand.

According to Dulberg, the proposed Uber pricing class action settlement represents about half of what drivers could recuperate in a successful trial, but according to Uber, it represents roughly the total amount drivers could hope to gain by taking the Uber payment class action laws to court.

In seeking approval of the Uber class action settlement, Dulberg says that “the settlement deal is will within the zone of fairness even when compared to the best-case scenario damages: $354,622 is 46.2 percent of $747,555” the amount he believes that drivers were collectively short changed by Uber’s allegedly unfair pricing structure.

The settlement deal was reached after mediation overseen by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu, and on Friday, Dulberg sought approval of the Uber pricing class action settlement from U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup.

In February, Judge Alsup certified a Class of 9,265 drivers, a number almost twice the estimated number of drivers that had been financially harmed by Uber’s pricing model, according to the expert that Dulberg cited in his argument.

Dulberg filed the Uber driver pay structure in February 2017, arguing that the way Uber paid drivers was different from the payment agreement delineated in its driver contract.

He claims that Uber charges passengers a fee before the ride, that is based in part on the ride distance, and in part based on inflation determined by demand for rides.

Uber allegedly says it will pay drivers based on this fee, but instead pays drivers based only on the distance of a drive, and in reality, profits from the inflationary pricing.

To counter Dulberg’s claim, Uber said that the upfront pricing was only meant to inform drivers of what customers were charged, not to indicate on what amount the driver’s pay would be based. Uber also argued that its contract was consistent with this pay structure, and was not misleading, as Dulberg alleged.

Uber went on to attack Dulberg’s claim that the company was breaching contract by noting that Dulberg admitted that he know about the realities of how drivers were paid as early as 2016, but continued to drive for the company after knowing this information.

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The plaintiff is represented by Paul B. Maslo of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC.

The Uber Payment Structure Class Action Lawsuit is Dulberg v. Uber Technologies Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-00850, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.