This Week in Rideshare $600K, Seattle, and Swiss.
A scooter injury settles big, Washington sets a first, and Uber takes an L. LegalRideshare breaks it down:
MONDAY 5/30/22
A neglected pothole cost the City of Chicago $600,000 after an e-scooter rider got seriously injured and LegalRideshare stepped in to help. CBS News reported:
In June of 2019, Eloy Scheunemann hurt his knee falling off an electric scooter when he ran over a baseball-sized pothole near Wood and Iowa streets in West Town, and needed several surgeries.
His attorneys said the city was notified about the pothole a week before the accident and failed to fix it.
“The most important thing is that nothing like this ever happens to anyone else’s spouse, sibling, friend or loved one,” said Scheunemann’s attorney, Bryant Greening. “Here’s hoping for a safe, injury-free summer for anyone who chooses to ride an electric scooter.”
The proposed $600,000 settlement with the city still must be approved by the City Council.
TUESDAY 5/31/22
A driver struggling to pay for his daughter's chemo got an unexpected surprise. WFLA reported:
Last month, a Fresno Uber driver struggling to pay for his daughter’s chemo picked up a ride that would earn him more than $250,000.
“Storytime… I went to Coachella this weekend and I thought this guy was kind of hitting on me but then he just robbed me,” influencer Becca Moore said at the beginning of a now-viral video detailing her mishaps at the music festival.
That’s when she learned about Mayra and decided to help. Moore launched a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised more than $250,000 in less than a month.
Moore explains how after getting robbed and stranded at Coachella last month, she met an Uber driver who would not leave her side until she found her phone.
“I’m not going to just drop you off like that, I’ll wait for you. Once you get your phone you can do whatever you have to do,” Torres recalls telling Moore.
“It’s amazing,” Torres said. “I was backed up on rent, I was backed up on everything. Had my dad’s funeral because he ended up passing away, so we were just swamped.”
WEDNESDAY 6/1/22
Seattle just became the first city to set minimum wage for delivery drivers. Business Insider reported:
The “Pay Up” bill will set the minimum wage for these workers in accordance with the city’s rate of $17.27 per hour and come into force in 2023, The Seattle Times reported.
“We live in an expensive city; many delivery workers earn below the minimum wage after expenses and tips are accounted for,” said Lisa Herbold, one of the council members behind the bill, in a statement.
The bill, which has taken more than a year to pass, also aims to create more transparency about payments and protect the flexibility of app-based workers.
THURSDAY 6/2/22
Uber’s data breach scandal continues to haunt the company. Bloomberg reported:
When Joe Sullivan was fired from his job as Uber Technologies Inc.’s security chief, the ride-hailing giant declared a clean break from its problematic past.
Now, five years later, as he faces criminal charges stemming from an alleged coverup of a massive data breach, Sullivan wants to put the company, its current chief executive officer and its prior management team on trial with him.
Fighting charges that he concealed a 2016 theft of personal data of 50 million customers and 7 million drivers, Sullivan claims Uber’s legal department and other managers were aware of the incident before it blew up publicly. He also argues that Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over as CEO in 2017, had him fired in an effort to close a $9 billion investment deal with SoftBank Group Corp.
FRIDAY 6/3/22
Uber’s appeal took a loss in a top Switzerland court, which deemed the company is an employer. Reuters reported:
Switzerland’s top court upheld a ruling that ride-hailing company Uber (UBER.N) should be treated as an employer, dismissing the company’s attempt to overturn a Geneva court’s verdict.
“According to the Federal Supreme Court, the cantonal court did not rule arbitrarily when it ruled that Uber drivers working in Geneva had an employment relationship with Uber BV. The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the corresponding appeal,” it said in a media release on Friday accompanying the verdict.
LegalRideshare is the first law firm in the United States to focus exclusively on Uber®, Lyft®, gig workers, delivery and e-scooter accidents and injuries.
