I am not a lawyer, and have absolutely no meaningful opinion on the merits of this lawsuit. However, Uber has absolutely not helped their case by having executives act like frat bros.<p>As much as we'd like to think that the law and public opinion are separate, in reality, I think that if Uber had tried to be a better 'public citizen' they probably wouldn't be facing so much backlash.<p>That essay by Paul Graham about 'mean people' is looking downright prophetic right about now.
To all those who think that this is a witch hunt against Uber, here's a glaring example of Uber compromising safety of their passengers. Had they taken timely action...<p><a href="https://twitter.com/nps2113/status/542063133809192960" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/nps2113/status/542063133809192960</a><p>The lady was on TV saying that she had complained about the creepy driver to Uber, a few days before he committed the dastardly act. They gave an assurance but failed to act, which resulted in something much worse. Granted that the bigger culprit is the police here who let go off the individual despite his previous run-ins with the law. But Uber has absolutely failed the trust here. Just goes out to show that they care about $$ above everything else.<p>Response from Uber: <a href="https://twitter.com/nps2113/status/542352404478713857" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/nps2113/status/542352404478713857</a><p>News coverage: <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/woman-complained-about-rapist-driver-in-november-uber-ignored/347939?pfrom=home-lateststories" rel="nofollow">http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/woman-c...</a><p>(Credit goes to a comment down below for first mentioning this)
Uber is an amazing customer experience (same with Lyft, etc) but I am really worried about the precedent being set here.<p>Every step of Uber's success has been associated with some sort of law breaking. In each new market they ignore the established taxi/limo laws, and in some they ignore more serious laws (background checks, etc). The individual offenses are small and generally non-serious (unlicensed taxi driving, illegal fees) but when you zoom out you see that this is a company systematically encouraging thousands of small crimes every day. When you realize that the behavior comes from the top, you can aggregate the wrongdoing into something pretty serious.<p>At first this was kind of 'cute'. We were all rooting for the little startup who said no to an old system and tried to create something better. Uber is now a huge company. They have secured over $2B in funding and probably intending to IPO with a market cap over $50B. Yet they have not slowed down with the law breaking and general disregard for "the rules".<p>How can this be OK? When will we force them to be mature and obey the laws. I have to obey the law in my every day life. More importantly, I would be terrified if other companies with similar market caps (airlines, rental car companies, media companies) started ignoring the law left and right. If money and investors can make you above the law then there is no protection for the rest of us.<p>I really want Uber as a service to exist, as I said. They provide a great convenience for me. However I don't think it's acceptable that they get to ignore the established rules. The laws are there for a reason. If they are bad laws, then we can work to change them. No amount of VC funding should make you immune to their reach.
Uber is an unlicensed livery service with a smartphone app; I don't know why everyone is pretending they're providing such an innovative and new service. If Uber is allowed to operate in blatant disregard of the law, the law should be changed so their competitors are afforded the same privilege. Alternatively, Uber should be made to comply to the laws their competitors have to.<p>This article doesn't even get into it, but beyond background checks, their not having medallions is a huge, unfair advantage; their labor practices are exploitative and probably illegal; and their insurance policies are not adequate.
"These companies can be innovative in the way they deliver services without ignoring the laws that protect the public."<p>Actually pretty solid advice for Silicon Valley.
Quoting the article:<p>"I don't know if this is legally feasible, but my inclination would be to allow Lyft here a long time before Uber," the commissioner of Portland's Bureau of Transportation, told the Times. "Lyft seems like a respectable company, and Uber seems like a bunch of thugs."<p>It is a bit shocking to hear a public regulator talk like this. A regulator's role should not be to pick and choose winners between two (essentially identical) companies based on personal preference.
This article is slightly more helpful: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-lyft-20141209-story.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-lyf...</a><p>It appears the lawsuit is mostly for "false advertising" and (as stated in the LA Times article) the damages are perhaps in the low dozens of millions. The complaint perhaps focuses on the background check system.<p>I can't find a copy of the actual complaint, but looks like it's "business tort":
(via <a href="http://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/online-services/verify?f=cnq" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/online-services/verify?f=cnq</a> )
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco
Case Number: CGC 14 543120
Title: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA VS. UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC A DELAWARE CORPORATION ET AL
Cause of Action: BUSINESS TORT<p>IMO the Mercury News article spins the magnitude of this lawsuit a bit too hard. Yes, Uber will probably pay (once again) for its hubris, but it's mostly gonna be dirt off its shoulders ( <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HAYkB-gH0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HAYkB-gH0</a> ).
<p><pre><code> > Uber's background checks ... have become a worldwide
> issue: The company was banned in New Delhi ... drivers
> there had to produce a certificate of strong character
> signed by police ... a bribe of about $130 would easily
> garner the document
</code></pre>
Seems a little unreasonable to lay blame for Indian police corruption at Uber's door... Can't begin to imagine the level of wailing and gnashing of teeth if Uber started attempting to run its own private background checks...
What I'm surprised about is how much press Uber gets these days. I jump on Quora, I've easily seen 10 questions in about a week? Went to a startup event that was hosted by Uber. Have been given Uber discount cards. Likewise, goes for Twitter too. I've seen bad and good press about Uber. And, of course, I'm seeing Uber on HN.<p>I'm really keen to see if their growth startegy works and if they're able to dominate the industry; or become one of those companies that rises too fast and falls quickly.<p>Met a young kid recently, claimed he had the idea for
Uber too.. Told him, it's all about the execution.<p>I'd expect the lawsuit against Uber will not be the last. They have really got to keep on top of their legal department to protect stakeholders.
I think I'd be nervous if I were an Uber investor. There seems to be a lot of negative news about them lately; that's the kind of thing that can feed on itself.
The political bandwagon begun. Pretty remarkable turn of events. It seems unlikely the company can go public with this type of legal threat hanging out there to its business. But with private markets as flush as they are, its also not clear there are any losers here that the politcians really care about, either. Sort of fascinating.
Is it me, or does this feel like a witch hunt? What specific laws did or does Uber break? Does the city really believe that taxi's are more ethical that Uber or Lyft?
Uber here is your chance to stand up to a tyrant. Move that shiny headquarters and your tax domicile to a business friendly jurisdiction, and leave San Francisco to stew in its nest.
Buried within the article, the city claims to have alread settled a half a million dollar lawsuit with Lyft. hopefully this news source also covered that lawsuit.
IMO: I don't really care about the media issues on Uber, what I'm concerned is that I do love the service and I don't want to see it close.