Uber pays $178 million to end legal fight with Australian taxi drivers

SYDNEY (AP) — Global rideshare giant Uber will pay $178 million to settle a long-running dispute with Australian taxi and hire car drivers who lost out when the company entered the Australian market. A class action suit against Uber had been expected to go to trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday, but lawyers acting on behalf of 8,000 taxi and hire car drivers said the case will be dropped because Uber agreed to the financial settlement. It’s the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australia’s history and comes five years after the action was launched.