一些計程車和租車行業成員對澳洲最大集體訴訟之一的擬議和解感到憤怒

Uber 在 3 月宣布同意向澳洲計程車和租車行業成員支付超過 2.7 億美元的協議，被譽為「歷史性的」和「世界首例」。

Uber has agreed to pay over $270 million to Australian taxi and hire car industry members as part of one of the country’s biggest class actions.

作為該國最大集體訴訟之一的一部分，Uber 同意向澳洲計程車和租車行業成員支付超過 2.7 億美元。

The settlement, announced in March, will see 8,700 taxi owners, licensees and drivers compensated for losses incurred when Uber illegally entered Australia over a decade ago.

今年 3 月宣布的和解協議將使 8,700 名計程車車主、持照人和司機獲得 Uber 十多年前非法進入澳洲造成的損失賠償。

But some class action members are unhappy with their cut of the settlement, which they say is “woefully unfair”.

但一些集體訴訟成員對他們在和解協議中的份額並不滿意，他們說這「非常不公平」。

After Maurice Blackburn’s legal costs and the litigation funder’s commission are deducted, the plaintiffs will receive just a fraction of what they lost.

扣除莫里斯·布萊克本的法律費用和訴訟資助者的佣金後，原告只能得到其損失的一小部分。

According to one plaintiff, most will be left with something “pretty close” to $15,000-$21,000.

據一位原告稱，大多數人都會留下「非常接近」15,000-21,000 美元的錢。

Queensland Taxi Licence Owner’s Association boss Paul Scaini said such compensation was “woefully inadequate” given that Uber had directly caused his family damages of roughly $1 million.

昆士蘭計程車執照所有者協會主席 Paul Scaini 表示，考慮到 Uber 直接給他的家庭造成了約 100 萬澳元的損失，這樣的賠償「嚴重不足」。

“My family had to sell their home … I find it amazing that the legal team now considers it somehow equitable that class members be the big losers,” Scaini said in court.

「我的家人不得不賣掉他們的房子……令我感到驚訝的是，法律團隊現在認為集體成員成為大輸家在某種程度上是公平的，」斯卡尼在法庭上說。

Adding to the不满, several thousand taxi and hire car industry members, who had not registered for the class action, have sought to sign on since the settlement was announced.

自從和解協議宣布以來，數千名尚未登記參加集體訴訟的計程車和出租汽車行業成員已尋求簽署協議，這讓不滿情緒雪上加霜。

Scaini told Moneyweb in October that Maurice Blackburn, which chalked up over $38.6 million in legal fees, promised the plaintiffs justice, not “a token settlement”.

斯卡尼在 10 月告訴 Moneyweb，莫里斯·布萊克本 (Maurice Blackburn) 支付了超過 3860 萬美元的法律費用，承諾為原告伸張正義，而不是「象徵性和解」。

In court, Scaini claimed the decision to settle “boiled down to the litigation funder’s desire to get their hands on $81,541,000 right now rather than have to wait for class members getting any fair and equitable results”.

在法庭上，Scaini 聲稱和解決定「歸結為訴訟資助者希望立即獲得 81,541,000 美元，而不是等待集體成員獲得任何公平公正的結果」。

Several plaintiffs said Maurice Blackburn had previously expressed confidence in taking the case to trial and the settlement announcement took them by surprise.

幾名原告表示，莫里斯·布萊克本先前曾表示有信心將此案送交審判，和解聲明令他們感到驚訝。

Brisbane taxi owner Stephen Lacaze said the case’s principal lawyer first came “riding into town on Bradman-like batting averages and the reputation of Maurice Blackburn”.

布里斯班計程車老闆史蒂芬·拉卡茲 (Stephen Lacaze) 表示，此案的首席律師首先「以布拉德曼般的成功率和莫里斯·布萊克本 (Maurice Blackburn) 的聲譽進城」。

She “made it very clear that this would be a slow, grinding process, but assured all that Maurice Blackburn had the runs on the board, expertise, and will to see it through,” Lacaze told the court.

拉卡茲在法庭上表示，她「非常明確地表示，這將是一個緩慢而艱難的過程，但向所有人保證，莫里斯·布萊克本擁有董事會成員的資格、專業知識和堅持到底的意願。 」

The case against Uber was lodged in 2019 and an additional case was added in 2020.

針對 Uber 的案件於 2019 年提起，並於 2020 年增加了另一起案件。

“A lot of the taxi people don’t really understand the complexities of all this,” Scaini said.

「很多計程車司機並不真正理解這一切的複雜性，」斯卡尼說。

“We could highly likely have won the case in the court, but I 100 percent guarantee that Uber would’ve then appealed … because they’ve got the money,” said Rod Barton, who was boss of the Victorian Taxi and Hire Car Association when the suit was filed.

維多利亞出租車和租車協會主席羅德·巴頓 (Rod Barton) 表示：「我們很有可能在法庭上贏得這場官司，但我百分百保證 Uber 會上訴……因為他們有錢。」當提起訴訟時。

“We would’ve ended up in court for another five years, for what? To get a similar amount of money?” Barton said, citing the additional costs of the case dragging out.

「我們最終會在法庭上再待五年，為了什麼？為了得到同樣數額的錢？巴頓表示，案件拖延會帶來額外成本。

“Everybody who joined the class action knew from the very beginning” that Harbour would take a 30 percent cut of any settlement, Barton said.

巴頓表示，「參加集體訴訟的每個人從一開始就知道」Harbor 將從任何和解協議中抽取 30% 的分成。

“I know people are very upset, but the people responsible for the loss of the licence values are the state governments, not Uber.”

“我知道人們非常沮喪，但對許可證價值損失負責的人是州政府，而不是 Uber。”

Previous cases brought against state governments in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have all failed.

先前針對維多利亞州、昆士蘭州和西澳大利亞州政府提起的案件均以失敗告終。

“We all wanted to win millions, but no one was ever, ever going to do it,” said Barton, adding that he lost his home when Uber wiped out his hire car business.

巴頓說：「我們都想贏得數百萬美元，但沒有人能夠做到這一點。」他補充說，當優步消滅了他的租車業務時，他失去了自己的家。

“I sympathise with [those objecting to the settlement], because I’m in exactly the same position. I want my home back again, but I ain’t going to get it. No other country, as far as I’m aware, has been able to hold Uber accountable for their illegal activity.”

「我同情[那些反對和解的人]，因為我的立場完全相同。我想要回到我的家，但我不會得到它。據我所知，沒有其他國家能夠讓 Uber 對其非法活動負責。

Scaini and Glazebrook were two of 10 objectors who attended the September hearing to protest the settlement.

斯卡尼和格萊茲布魯克是出席 9 月聽證會抗議和解協議的 10 名反對者中的兩人。

“When push comes to shove, when people needed to come and mount their case, it was less than a dozen people out of eight and a half thousand,” Barton said.

巴頓說：“當事情到了緊要關頭，當人們需要過來提出申訴時，八半千人中只有不到十幾人。”

In response, Scaini told Moneyweb: “There were a hell of a lot more objections. It was only that 10 people chose to talk to those objections in the court.”

作為回應，斯卡尼告訴 Moneyweb：「還有更多的反對意見。只有10個人選擇在法庭上談論這些反對意見。

According to the court-appointed contradictors, 85 objections were made about the settlement itself.

據法院指定的反駁者稱，針對和解協議本身提出了 85 條反對意見。

“There were a hell of a lot more objections. It was only that 10 people chose to talk to those objections in the court,” Scaini said.

「還有更多的反對意見。只有 10 個人選擇在法庭上談論這些反對意見，」斯卡尼說。

According to the court-appointed contradictors, 85 objections were made about the settlement itself.

據法院指定的反駁者稱，針對和解協議本身提出了 85 條反對意見。

“There were a hell of a lot more objections. It was only that 10 people chose to talk to those objections in the court,” Scaini said.

「還有更多的反對意見。只有 10 個人選擇在法庭上談論這些反對意見，」斯卡尼說。

According to the court-appointed contradictors, 85 objections were made about the settlement itself.

據法院指定的反駁者稱，針對和解協議本身提出了 85 條反對意見。

“There were

「有