Ever Ride Uber? Company May Owe You a Little Money

And we mean a little, like 82 cents
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 12, 2016 11:07 AM CST
Ever Ride Uber? Company May Owe You a Little Money
An Uber sign is displayed on a car near the San Francisco International Airport.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Uber says it will pay $28.5 million to settle two lawsuits that accused the ride-hailing firm of misleading customers about its safety procedures and fees. The company told a federal judge in San Francisco that it wants to settle the class-action lawsuits by paying riders who made US trips between Jan. 1, 2013, and Jan. 31, 2016, reports AP. If this applies to you, don't celebrate too much—the Washington Post figures individual payouts will be about 82 cents. The lawsuits attacked Uber for charging a fee of up to $2.30 per trip for what it called industry-leading background checks on would-be drivers. However, Uber didn't do the kind of fingerprint checks required of taxi drivers.

Under the settlement—which still must be approved by the judge—Uber also would stop using certain "safety-related" advertising language and would rename its "Safe Ride Fee" as a "Booking Fee." Uber says its technology does provide safety features, such as trip tracking through GPS and sharing a driver's photo identification and license plate number before the passenger gets into the car. Similar lawsuits filed by the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles are still pending. (More Uber stories.)

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