New judicial round in the confrontation between them and the American giant: 2,480 taxi drivers asked the courts on Friday for compensation of 455 million euros in damages against Uber, which they accuse of unfair competition. For almost three hours on Friday afternoon, the two sides exchanged their arguments, under the gaze and, at times, applause of several dozen taxi drivers present in the audience. The Paris commercial court will deliver its decision on December 18.
Since its creation in France more than ten years ago, the American company has been the subject of numerous legal proceedings, but this one is unprecedented in terms of the number of taxis – 2,480 drivers and nine associations – as well as the amount of compensation requested. approximately 455 million euros for economic damages alone. They had sued Uber France and Uber BV in February 2021, based on a decision of the Court of Cassation, which almost a year earlier, on March 4, 2020, had ruled that the independent status of a former driver of the platform was “ fictional”. ”And that he should be considered an employee.
“The objective of this action is simply to evict Uber from the market”
Beyond the claims for compensation and compensation for economic damages estimated at more than 9,300 euros on average per driver and per year of practice, the taxi councils asked the court to sanction the “Uber model” and its “violation of the right French labor”. . “The most appropriate measure to put an end to the commercial disruption resulting from this act of unfair competition” is to “condemn Uber to pay all its VTC drivers”, with a daily fine of 1.7 million euros in case of non-compliance of their obligations. the decision, argued one of the taxi’s lawyers, Etienne Feildel.
“If you agree to this request, you will become a box office,” he joked. Since the decision of the Court of Cassation, “99% of VTC drivers have not requested their requalification,” he noted, and in “60% of the cases” of the remaining 1%, the applicants have not won the case, according to in defense of Uber. “The objective of this action is simply to achieve the expulsion of Uber from the market,” lamented Yoann Boubacir.
In a separate case, on October 4 the Paris Court of Appeal ordered the platform to compensate 149 taxi drivers due to unfair competition linked to the activity of its former service UberPop, closed in 2015. In January, the industrial court of Lyon condemned Uber to pay some 17 million euros to 139 drivers and reclassify the relationship between them and the platform as an employment contract.
Source: BFM TV
