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The district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles today filed suit against Uber for unlawful business practices.
The complaint alleges Uber has misled the public about the effectiveness of its background checks on drivers it hires, along with fraudulent airport fees and customer fare calculations that haven’t been approved by the state. The DAs are seeking a permanent injunction against these practices.
“These companies can be innovative in the way they deliver services without ignoring the laws that protect the public,” said San Francisco’s George Gascón and Los Angeles’ Jackie Lacey in a published statement.
At the same time, Gascón and Lacey said they had settled similar issues with Lyft, saying the company had agreed to pay civil penalties of $500,000. Lyft agreed to get authorization from airports and submit its app for state testing of its accuracy of measurement. It will get out of half of the fine if it complies within a year.
The suit comes at a time when Uber is being legally challenged in many of the 250 cities in which it operates. The company was hit with a cease and desist in Madrid, Spain; a shutdown order in Bangkok, Thailand; another city lawsuit in Portland; a recent ban in Delhi, India, where a passenger was allegedly raped over the weekend; and a ban in the Netherlands. Also today, an Uber driver in San Francisco was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death of a 6-year-old girl last New Year’s Eve.
The company’s general practice is to continue operations even when challenged.
“Californians and California lawmakers all agree — Uber is an integral, safe, and established part of the transportation ecosystem in the Golden State. Uber has met with the District Attorneys to address their concerns regarding airport operations, the uberPOOL product, background checks, and operation of the app. We will continue to engage in discussions with the District Attorneys,” said Uber spokeswoman Eva Behrend.
Lyft spokeswoman Erin Simpson said, “After months of productive conversations, Lyft has entered into an agreement with District Attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles that demonstrates our shared commitment to consumers and innovation.”
The district attorneys had previously challenged Uber, Lyft and their competitor Sidecar on their commercial carpooling features. That was not addressed in today’s complaints.
Here’s the complaint against Uber:
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
