Driver loses R$ 36 thousand in lawsuit against Uber for canceling 64% of rides

The Court of Justice of Bahia (TJ-BA) fully reversed the decision of the first instance that had ordered Uber to reactivate the account of a partner driver in Salvador and to pay R$ 36 thousand in compensation. The Second Civil Chamber of the court considered the disqualification of the professional legitimate after the platform showed that he canceled 64% of the trips he had already accepted, which is equivalent to refusing more than six out of every ten previously confirmed trips.

Initially, the 4th Civil Court of Salvador had judged the exclusion abusive because it understood that the driver did not have the right to a full defense and for discarding the app’s reports, considered evidence produced unilaterally by the company. At that initial stage, the driver had guaranteed the determination to return to the platform under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 500, in addition to the right to receive R$ 26 thousand for loss of profits and R$ 10 thousand for moral damages. However, Uber appealed the sentence and took the dispute to trial in the second instance.

When analyzing the appeal, the rapporteur of the case, Judge Manuel Carneiro Bahia de Araújo, and the other magistrates understood that the system records are valid as digital evidence in relationships that took place in a virtual environment, especially because the plaintiff did not contest the veracity of the data presented. The decision also took into account that excessive cancellations generated direct impacts on the provision of service, increasing the waiting time of passengers and impairing the allocation of calls to other drivers in the region.

In addition to the significant rate of refusals, the fact that he had already received formal warnings about the behavior and had undergone an administrative review procedure at the company before the definitive blockade weighed against the worker. Under the civil principles of contractual freedom and objective good faith, the panel unanimously concluded that the company acted in the regular exercise of a right.

With the judicial turnaround, Uber was exempt from reactivating the account and paying the compensation of R$ 36 thousand, while the driver was ordered to pay costs and lawyers’ fees, whose collection remains suspended due to the benefit of free justice.