Uber Wins Bid to Dismiss £250 Million Black Cab Driver Suit

Uber Technologies Inc. won a bid to dismiss a £250 million ($333 million) lawsuit after a judge ruled that the claim on behalf of thousands of London’s black cab drivers was filed too late.

The claim, filed in 2024 on behalf of more than 13,000 taxi drivers, alleged that Uber improperly obtained a license to operate in London and that it unlawfully took business away from traditional taxi operators.

Black cab drivers could have discovered the publicly available material needed to bring the lawsuit by February 2018, the judge said in the ruling handed down on Monday.

“They could have discovered it earlier, and more than six years before the first of the claim forms was issued. As a result, the claimants’ claims are time-barred,” Judge Simon Birt said.

The ruling ends the lawsuit that threatened to resurface old tensions for the ride-hailing platform that has faced multiple setbacks since entering the London market. Uber successfully challenged Transport for London’s refusal to renew its license twice in 2017 and 2019. It was also forced to overhaul its business model after the UK Supreme Court ruled that its drivers needed to be re-classified as workers, in a bitter employment dispute.

“We are pleased that the court has dismissed all of these claims entirely at the earliest opportunity and the ruling today has put these legacy matters firmly in the past,” Uber said.

Mishcon de Reya, the law firm representing the claimants sent a letter to Uber initiating the claim in 2019 but after a litigation funder pulled out of the case, it did not write to Uber about the potential claim for another four and a half years, according to the ruling.

“We are obviously very disappointed and are considering all options available to the claimant cab drivers with the legal team,” a spokesperson for RGL Management Ltd., the firm running the claim, said.

Top photo: A commuter uses the Uber Technologies Inc. app on a smartphone in view of a black cab picking up a passenger in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg.