Uber Technologies Inc. is suing a group of lawyers and medical providers in Los Angeles who it says have
made fraudulent insurance claims that cost the company millions in legal fees — the third such lawsuit it’s filed this year.
In the federal case, filed Monday in the central district of Cali
fornia, Uber accused the defendants of directing passengers to “pre-selected medical providers” who submitted in
flated bills to treat negligible or non-existent injuries from minor
2019 and 2024. Uber said the personal injury lawyers named in the case took advantage of a state-mandate
$1 million rideshare insurance policy limit by fraudu
lently inducing “significantly larger settlement payments.” In one case, it said, the medical bill was 10 times more than the norm.
This lawsuit is intended to “recover the full extent” of the millions of dollars of harm from the resulted defense costs and settlements,” Uber said. “The scheme
remains ongoing, and Uber continues to suffer,” it added. The compan
y is also backing state legislation that lowers insurance coverage limits for rideshare companies.
Downtown LA Law Group, one of the personal injury law firms named in the suit, said in an emailed statemen
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t that it “strongly denies the baseless allegations” and called the lawsuit an attempt to “suppress legitimate injury claims brought by rideshare passengers.”
“The company never tried a single case it now claims was fraudulent,” the law firm said. “If Uber truly believed the
se claims were meritless, it had every opportunity to take them to trial. It chose not to.”
“Downtown LA Law Group will vigorously defend itself in court and looks forward to clearing its name,” it added.
The other defendants in the suit didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is the third racketeering lawsuit Uber has pursued against lawyers and medical practices who it says are taking advantage of lucrative insurance polic
ies and seeking high payouts. It filed its first such case in New York, followed by a similar one in south Florida. The e
ffort is part of a broader campaign by the company to reduce mounting insurance costs, which it’s passed
down to customers in the form of higher trip fares. This in turn has exacerbated a slowdown in its U.S. rideshare business, Uber has said.