Summary: Uber has been hit with another lawsuit from a more traditional transportation company that is upset the digital company doesn’t have to follow the same laws.
A Detroit company is fighting against Uber’s ability to get around laws. Entertainment Express, a limousine and party bus based in Dearborn Heights, had its own operating license rescinded by Department of Transportation officials. Their federal racketeering lawsuit against Uber alleges that the company violates state transportation laws, but officials have turned a blind eye to it.
The owner of Entertainment Express, Patrick Mifsud, believes his company has been subjected to “vigorously enforced” laws that Uber is not subjected to. The MDOT explains the company’s license was revoked after failing several safety inspections and operating a bus or limousine several times without a valid safety inspection on multiple occasions.
Judge Calls Uber a Transportation Services Company
Uber drivers use their own personal vehicles so they don’t undergo the same safety inspections and insurance as commercial vehicles driving under the state’s Limousine Transportation Act and Michigan Vehicle Code. The lawsuit claims that Uber has an unfair advantage over traditional transportation companies.
Similar lawsuits and complaints have been filed in other states and cities across the world as traditional transportation companies, and workers are struggling to compete with the lower rates that Uber can offer passengers.
Uber argues in all complaints against them that they only own and operate the program that arranges the rides so they should be regulated differently. This lawsuit is claiming racketeering since Uber is evading state transportation laws and committing wire fraud for processing the online credit card payments for illegal transportation services.
Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/uber_faces_federal_racketeerin.html
