Uber Slapped With Class Action Lawsuit Over $1 'Safe Rides Fee'

The number of lawsuits being brought against Uber keeps piling up. This time, the app-based transportation company is a class-action lawsuit from both cab companies and its own drivers over Uber’s $1 Safe Rides Fee.

Filed on Tuesday with the federal court in San Francisco, the lawsuit seeks restitution for the $1 Safe Rides Fee that has been charged to every U.S. Uber customer. Two Uber riders filed the class-action lawsuit claiming that they shouldn’t have to pay the $1 fee because the company’s background checks have been misrepresented as “industry leading” and “often more rigorous than what it takes to become a taxi driver.” However, the complaint states that is not the case considering that drivers do not have to be fingerprinted.

The fee was added in April and was included to help the company pay its safety program, which includes background checks, vehicle inspections, and driver training. 

“We don’t expect to get 100 cents on the dollar — that would be shooting the moon,” said Nicholas Coulson, who is one of the attorneys filing the lawsuit. “But we do aim to get the greatest possible restitution.”

This is the third lawsuit to be brought against Uber in the last month. The company has come under fire for its questionable decisions and issues that includes an Uber SVP suggesting the company digging up dirt on journalists and the company quadrupling fares in Sydney during a hostage crisis only to backtrack on the decision.