Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Class Actions Claim Uber Harasses With Unsolicited Text Messages

A pair of class actions claim Uber is sending unsolicited text messages to former drivers and other nationwide consumers to advertise its lead generation services.

(CN) - A pair of class actions claim Uber is sending unsolicited text messages to former drivers and other nationwide consumers to advertise its lead generation services.

Uber is a multinational company that was founded in Paris in 2008 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, which provides on- demand generation, payment processing and related services to transportation providers for a cost.

On Friday Michael Fridman and Danny Gesel Reznik Fridman filed two federal class actions in Miami alleging Uber used an automatic telephone dialing system with the capacity to store or produce cell phone numbers and send them multiple text messages.

Fridman and Reznik say that Uber is “sending unsolicited text messages to former Uber drivers that, prior to sending them texts, Uber had deactivated and terminated its agreements and relationships with, and to other consumers that have never been Uber drivers.”

Fridman claims that on June 2014 he signed a “licensing agreement” to become an Uber driver, in which the company specified the fees that he had to pay to use its services and stating that Uber could terminate the contract at any time.

On January 30, 2018, Uber unilaterally terminated the agreement, Fridman says.

Reznik says that on July 2017 he also applied to become an “Uber Eats driver,” but Uber rejected his application, and he never entered into any agreement with the company.

The plaintiffs, who are represented by Avi Kaufman from Kaufman PA in Miami, Fla., claim that months later even though they did not have any relationship with Uber, they started receiving text messages from Uber without their consent.

Fridman says that the messages that he received were soliciting him to become an Uber driver again, and pay the company fees for its services.

On the other hand, Reznik alleges that the texts that he received were directed to active Uber drivers.

According to the complaints, Uber has send multiple identical text messages to the cell phone numbers of former Uber drivers whose agreements have been terminated, and to other consumers whose applications have been denied by Uber without their consent.

“Uber’s unsolicited texts were a nuisance that aggravated plaintiffs, wasted their time, invaded their privacy, diminished the value of the cellular services that they paid for, caused them to temporarily lose the use and enjoyment of their phones; and caused wear and tear to their phones’ data, memory, software, hardware and battery components,” the complaints say.

Fridman and Reznik are seeking compensatory damages and declaratory and injunctive relief on claims of violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Uber failed to respond to an email request for comment on the lawsuits.

Categories / Business, National, Personal Injury

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...