A U.S. appeals court on Monday dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that Uber Technologies' (NYSE:UBER) policy of terminating drivers with low passenger ratings is racially discriminatory.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Thomas Liu, the driver who filed the 2020 lawsuit, failed to provide evidence that non-white drivers were deactivated from Uber’s app at a higher rate than white drivers with similarly low ratings.
Liu's attorneys argued that they needed access to statistical evidence, which could only be obtained during the discovery phase, to support their claims.
However, the three-judge panel determined that Liu's allegations were speculative and lacked the necessary evidence to proceed.