A Passenger Sued Uber for Causing His Divorce Due to This One Fatal Glitch

Criminal AttorneyApril 17, 2020

Uber is one of the most widely used ride-hailing services today. But that doesn’t mean its operations run smoothly – its London license was denied and it must find a way to continue operations in the capital. Long before this issue came up, the company faced a lawsuit in 2017. No, the plaintiff didn’t complain about the rude driver nor the price surge, but his anger allegedly stemmed from a bug.

Again, no, it’s not an actual bug in the car he rode (although that would be disgusting), rather a malfunction on the Uber app that led to his wife divorcing him.

The businessman from France sued the company for subtly telling his wife about an extramarital affair that led to their separation. It may sound far-fetched but here’s how it happened:

What Went Down

The man borrowed his wife’s iPhone to book an Uber to the location of his mistress. Even though he logged out of the app, the cellphone owner still received notifications, which led to her discovery of her husband’s whereabouts. After the cat was let out of the bag, the businessman sued the company for the glitch for a whopping $48 million.

Because of a bug, the wife still got notifications even after his husband’s account was logged out

He wasn’t the only one who noticed the problem because even others shared the same experience on social media. However, the man, who had since been divorced from his wife, may have had suffered the most. According to reports, the flaw in the app was caused by an update, which only affected iPhone users.

Underpaid Drivers

Drivers from New York said they were underpaid by Uber

This was hardly the first time Uber was sued. In November, New York City drivers totaling 96,000 lambasted the company for allegedly refusing to pay back the deducted taxes from their earnings. New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which filed the case, has been targeting the ride-hailing service for quite some time now.

The group’s executive director, Bhairavi Desai, slammed Uber executives who allegedly pocket millions, a far cry from what drivers bring home to their family. In 2017, the company admitted it had erred in computing the commissions, saying that they based the calculations in income with state taxes instead of the pre-tax figures.

License Renewal Denied

Meanwhile, Uber’s application for a license to operate in London got denied again, the first request happened two years ago. At the time, regulator Transport for London said that the service wasn’t a fit operator because of the many safety concerns raised. This decision led to a public uproar, which was just understandable because the area has 3.5 million users.

Uber wasn’t given a license to operate in London

After an appeal, Uber was granted an extension of 15 months to operate then it was given another two months. When that ended of late, the government again denied the company’s request, explaining that despite the changes made in its service, it still wasn’t a fit license holder.

The regulator cited instances wherein unauthorized drivers can use accounts of other drivers and pick up passengers, without the customers being aware of it. This put the passengers’ lives in danger, plus, it’s not an isolated case. In fact, these unregistered drivers already made 14,000 trips.