Plaintiff Lawyers Spar Over Uber Settlement

A war of words and battle over clients has erupted, between a Harvard law educated Boston labor lawyer and a group of high-profile West Coast attorneys that includes one of the most successful celebrity lawyers in Los Angeles. The proposed $100 million class action settlement between Uber and drivers, under the aegis of Boston lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, was lambasted in a filing by three LA attorneys, including Mark Geragos, who has represented, among others, Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Roger Clinton. The objecting lawyers say the proposed settlement was designed to enrich the attorney and would “protect Uber at the expense of drivers.” One of the named plaintiffs in that lawsuit now says he wants to be represented by two of the objectors, Geragos and another high-profile LA attorney, Brian Kabateck. Attorney Liss-Riordan, who famously has won worker classification cases for Fed-Ex drivers and for strippers in night clubs, fired back in her own filing defending the proposed settlement, and pointing out that some of the objectors don’t practice wage-and-hour law or understand the risks of not settling.