The Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday ordered Uber France to compensate 149 taxi drivers nearly 850,000 euros in total, facing acts of “unfair competition” linked to the activity of its former Uberpop offer.
The UberPop offer, which the American company had developed in France between February 2014 and July 2015, made it possible to connect customers with individuals behind the wheel of their personal vehicle. The latter could thus carry out “an additional paid activity” without having to “comply with the regulations then in force for the private transport of people for a fee”, recalled the court of appeal in a press release.
15,000 euros in damages
“The Court held that the UberPop offer, through the Uber mobile application (…), characterized acts of unfair competition with regard to taxi drivers who themselves respected the regulations for the same activity,” is indicated in the press release. The “commercial disruption caused by the illicit UberPop service resulted in a breach of equality between competitors (…) allowing the Uber group (…) to build its economic development model from an illicit competitive advantage by freeing from regulation,” detailed the court of appeal.
In its ruling, which AFP was able to consult, the court thus condemns Uber France to pay each of the 149 plaintiffs 1,500 euros in damages for their moral damage, compared to 500 euros at first instance in November 2021. While they had obtained nothing at first instance for their economic damage, the 149 taxis will also be compensated in this respect on a case-by-case basis for amounts ranging from around 1,400 euros to more than 16,000 euros.
“This is the first time that the damage caused by taxis has been fully compensated in a case”, with justice usually being content to compensate only moral damage, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Jonathan told AFP. Bellaiche, putting the total amount of compensation at “almost 850,000 euros”.
“Against a giant like Uber, we must not give up,” insists the lawyer, who believes that the platform has put in place numerous legal strategies “so that people give up”, dragging out a procedure started in 2017. The 149 taxis “didn’t believe it anymore,” said Mr. Bellaiche, but they “are today happy and grateful to justice.”
“This case concerns the UberPop service, which was suspended in France in 2015. Today, the application allows several tens of thousands of professional VTC drivers”, who take the same exam as taxi drivers, “to carry out their activity,” responded an Uber spokesperson.
Another era
In a press release, the company insisted that the compensation ordered by the Court of Appeal was “significantly lower” than what the taxis initially claimed.
But above all, she emphasizes that this affair relates to another era in its relationship with taxis: “today, Uber also operates its services with taxis,” she states in her press release, claiming 2,500 professionals “brought together at within the Uber Taxi option”, to “supplement their income” by spending “less time looking for passengers”.
In September 2021, another civil conviction forced Uber to compensate more than 900 taxi drivers to the tune of 200 euros each. The UberPop offer was active until the day after the placement in police custody of two Uber France executives. They were convicted in January 2022, as well as Uber France, for deceptive commercial practice and complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi activity.