Joel Rosenblatt
Appeals Court Orders Uber, Lyft to Treat Drivers as Employees
Lyft and Uber logos are displayed on the windshield of a vehicle at LAX in September 2019. (Allison Zaucha/Bloomberg News)
Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. face the gravest threat yet to their business models after an appeals court ruled they must treat their drivers in California as employees instead of independent contractors.
October 23, 2020Uber, Lyft Win Delay on Converting Drivers to Employees
A Lyft logo is installed on a Lyft driver's car next to an Uber sticker. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
Uber and Lyft were spared from having to rapidly convert their California drivers to employees after an appeals court agreed they can keep their business models in place while challenging a judge’s order to comply with a state labor law.
August 20, 2020Anthony Levandowski Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
In a file photo, Anthony Levandowski (left) and attorney Miles Ehrlich exit federal court in San Jose, Calif., Aug. 27, 2019. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News)
Autonomous driving engineer Anthony Levandowski was ordered to spend 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Google as he defected to Uber Technologies Inc., in one of the highest-profile criminal cases to hit Silicon Valley.
August 4, 2020Uber Takes Shot at Lyft in Defense to Gig-Worker Suit
A pedestrian checks her phone in front of the Uber headquarters in San Francisco. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News)
Uber Technologies Inc. is trying to duck a California lawsuit that threatens to upend its business model — by pointing a finger at Lyft Inc.
July 16, 2020Self-Driving Pioneer Anthony Levandowski Goes Bankrupt After $179 Million Ruling
Levandowski via David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News
Anthony Levandowski, one of Silicon Valley’s most highly prized engineers, filed for bankruptcy after Google won a $179 million award against him over his defection to Uber Technologies Inc.
March 5, 2020Ex-Uber Engineer Anthony Levandowski Publicly Rebuts Theft Claims
Former Uber Technologies Inc. engineer Anthony Levandowski (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News)
Former Uber Technologies Inc. engineer Anthony Levandowski broke his long silence about allegations that he stole driverless vehicle technology from Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit to say that he didn’t do it.
September 25, 2019Uber Braces for Fight Over Big Change to Gig-Economy Work Rules
A dashboard-mounted smartphone displays the Uber app in Frankfurt, Germany. (Alex Kraus/Bloomberg News)
Uber Technologies Inc. has generated billions of dollars from the labor of its drivers without the expense of treating them as employees. California is poised to disrupt that business model, and the ride-hailing behemoth is gearing up for a legal fight.
September 11, 2019Anthony Levandowski to Defend Himself Against Google’s Breach-of-Contract Claims
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, left, and Anthony Levandowski, co-founder of Otto, pose for a photo in the lobby of Uber headquarters, Aug. 18, 2016, in San Francisco. (Tony Avelar/ AP Photo)
Uber Technologies Inc.’s settlement of Waymo’s trade-secrets lawsuit in February left a key piece unresolved: the role played by Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of the alleged theft of critical self-driving technology.
April 30, 2018Uber Settles Waymo Driverless Car Suit, Said to Pay $245 Million
Photos by Seth Wenig, Eric Risberg/AP
Uber Technologies Inc. settled the high-stakes trade-secret theft lawsuit brought by Waymo, resolving a conflict that already cost the ride-hailing giant its top driverless car engineer and threatened to further embarrass the company.
February 9, 2018Uber’s Well-Paid ‘Whistle Blower’ Slammed by In-House Lawyer
Carlos Jasso/Reuters
An Uber Technologies Inc. security manager who was paid $4.5 million over his termination was derided by one of the company’s top internal lawyers as a thief and “extortionist” who made “fantastical” allegations of unethical conduct inside the company.
November 30, 2017