On Wednesday October 4, the Paris Court of Appeal 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 offer, UberPop.
This offer, which the American company deployed 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.
The offer “characterizes acts of unfair competition with regard to taxi drivers who themselves respect the regulations for the same activity”, specified the court in its press release, which evokes an “illicit competitive advantage (…) freeing from regulation,” detailed the court of appeal.
In its judgment, 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 in first instance, the 149 taxis will also be compensated on a case-by-case basis for their economic loss, for amounts ranging from around 1,400 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, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jonathan Bellaiche. The lawyer further believes that the platform has implemented numerous legal strategies “to make people give up”, dragging out a procedure started in 2017.
The 149 taxis “didn’t believe it anymore,” said Me Bellaiche, but they “are today happy and grateful to justice.” In the same case, the Paris Court of Appeal had already fined the French subsidiary of the American giant Uber 150,000 euros for “deceptive commercial practice” in 2015.