Lyft Drivers' Suit Against Uber Over Spying Pared by Judge

(Bloomberg) -- Lyft Inc. drivers will be permitted to revise a lawsuit alleging Uber Technologies Inc. spied on them using a software called "Hell" as part of a scheme to gain a competitive edge.

A San Francisco federal magistrate judge dismissed most of the lawsuit on Wednesday, but allowed the drivers to file an amended complaint, leaving the door open for them to pursue the case. The suit seeks to represent drivers nationwide who were targeted.

The drivers alleged violations of privacy and wiretapping laws, as well as unfair competition. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley preserved a claim under California’s unfair competition law, and said that the driver who filed the suit, Michael Gonzales, "has sufficiently alleged that he lost revenue as a result of Uber’s programs to decrease the supply of Lyft drivers."

According to the lawsuit, the Hell spyware, used from about 2014 to 2016, allowed Uber employees or its contractors to pose as Lyft customers and access the locations of drivers through their unique Lyft IDs. The goal was to identify drivers who worked for both companies so they could be targeted with incentives to primarily work for Uber, according to the complaint.

Federal prosecutors in New York have also been looking into the spyware allegations, Bloomberg reported in September.

Lawyers for Uber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

The case is Gonzales v. Uber Technologies Inc., 17-cv-02264, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

To contact the reporter on this story: Christie Smythe in Brooklyn at csmythe1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Paul Cox

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