Judge tosses Uber suits against 3 personal injury firms
A federal judge has tossed Uber Technologies Inc.’s lawsuits alleging that three personal injury law firms conspired with doctors and exploited riders to seek fake or exaggerated injury claims to generate settlements from the ride-share company. (Photo from Shutterstock)
A federal judge has tossed Uber Technologies Inc.’s lawsuits alleging that three personal injury law firms conspired with doctors and exploited riders to seek fake or exaggerated injury claims to generate settlements from the ride-share company.
In a 25-page order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Orelia E. Merchant of the Eastern District of New York dismissed Uber’s amended complaint, finding that the company hasn’t proved that the firms and the doctors “acted with a common purpose to bribe each other or defraud Uber” to fall under the scope of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
“At best,” according to the order, the complaint stated that the doctors received “benefits incidental to an ordinary and lawful client-referral relationship and third-party litigation financing of medical treatment.”
But Uber hasn’t shown that the doctors acted for the purpose of the enterprise, rather than for their own business interests, and that the firms acted for a common purpose, rather than their own interest, according to the order.
Law360 and Reuters have coverage.
See also:
Uber’s lawyers getting death threats over sexual assault cases
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