No drivers, no liability, Uber claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber contract drivers helped bring in more than three-quarters of the company’s revenue in this year’s first six months. But as Uber would have it, the drivers aren’t essential.

Uber raised eyebrows last month when its chief lawyer asserted “drivers’ work is outside the usual course of Uber’s business,” in a call laying out the company’s resistance to a California bill that would alter the employment status of many gig workers.

But it’s a legal strategy the Silicon Valley firm has been honing for years that helps it avoid responsibility for the actions of its drivers.

Documents and a 2017 deposition related to an Atlanta civil suit, Jessicka Harris v. Uber, viewed by The Washington Post, offer a rare glimpse into Uber’s strategies for using drivers’ independent contractor status as a legal shield.

Asked in a document to “admit or deny that Uber is in the business of providing transportation,” the ride-hailing firm’s attorneys are steadfast: “denied.”

Over the course of a nearly three-hour deposition in the Harris case, Uber executive Nicholas Valentino, then an operations manager for Atlanta, repeatedly corrected the plaintiff’s lawyer when he referred to the contractors as “drivers.”

“They are not Uber drivers ,” Valentino said. “They ’re independent, third-party transportation providers.”

He repeated the claim no fewer than 16 times, to the attorney’s apparent consternation.

“If you are going to keep saying they are not drivers, we are just going to be fussing about that all afternoon,” said the attorney, Michael Todd Wheeles.

“That’s OK,” said Valentino.

Uber in a given year faces many lawsuits ranging from fender benders to wage disputes to more serious incidents. Harris sued Uber and driver Robert Ferguson, alleging that she nearly lost her leg after being struck by Ferguson, who she claimed veered off the road.

At stake for Uber in its court battles is the potential for millions in new liabilities if Uber is found to bear greater responsibility for the actions of its contract drivers, if they are reclassified as employees.