The magistrate noted that, in this case, the company did not guarantee the driver the safety expected when using the application (Photo: Arquivo/Agência Brasil)
Uber do Brasil was ordered to pay damages to a driver in the Federal District who was suspended from the platform for 33 days after his account was cloned. The decision was taken by Judge Reginaldo García Machado from the First Special Civil Court of Aguas Claras. Flavio Oliveira, 40, revealed during the process that his account was cloned in May 2021, when he was the victim of a scam by the app.
“I felt weird about the travel call not because it had the person’s name in it, but because it was inside a forum I trusted. A message came in that I would be taking a person to the United States embassy and that cost race. The share will be between R$100 and R$200. I found it interesting because sometimes we work all day to earn it,” says Flavio in an interview with Estado.
The coup must have happened when the driver received a code via SMS which had to be entered on the platform. They say that the password to access the application and the bank details to receive payments were changed after sending the message.
“It appeared in the app that, for security reasons, as an embassy person, I had to pass a code that came to my cell phone by SMS. I sent this code and they automatically took my account on the platform And changed login. Access. I got an e-mail that my bank account has been changed and my data, like e-mail and password too. After that I completely lost access”, he says.
When contacted by the transport company, Flavio explained that he was instructed to file a police report and file a complaint on the company’s platform, but this was not possible as his account was already blocked right after the scam. “I contacted Uber at the same time. I was informed that I should file a BO and that I should file a complaint elsewhere, which would be a “complaint here” within the app. I did the newsletter, but I no longer have access Thi for the application and then there was no way to complain. An email arrived saying that my login was done in Cairo, Egypt, and my account was transferred to Sao Paulo. After that, the problem started ,” he says.
Flavio has a degree in business administration and majored in photography, but had to look for income options due to the low demand for the service in the Covid-19 pandemic. He claims to have paid around R$40,000 in cash for the Renault Sandero 2017 which he bought with the intention of working on the transport platform. The driver has been without a steady income for five months since he was banned, and at the time of the coup he worked as an app driver for about three months.
“I had invested all the money to buy a car that met the standards set by them and Uber to be a partner driver. It’s been five months since I was out of the job. I have two grown daughters and a four- A one-year-old girl to whom I pay alimony, who comes two months late. I am always trying, doing strange things,” she says.
The driver’s lawyer, Marcelo Hollanda, explains that the main defense thesis was that ‘the ban on the Platform occurred without the right of full defense and was contradictory under the argument that Flavio may have practiced conduct that would have gone against the Platform’s terms of use. Is’. In the process, the defense asked that Uber be ordered to reactivate the driver’s account and compensate him for the damage caused.
On analyzing the case, the judge agreed with the defense and pointed out that the defendant committed an unlawful act by unilaterally suspending the contract with the driver without allowing any prior defence. In this case, according to the magistrate, the breach of contract imposes a duty on Uber to repair material and moral damages suffered by the author. “The arbitrary attitude of the respondent (??) cannot be construed as mere daily annoyance or annoyance, as it also seriously affected the life of the applicant, who abruptly absolved himself of his remuneration as the driver of the application.” Found without financial resources to arise, without any possibility of defence, brought before the unilateral decision by the Respondent, feelings of anguish, helplessness, restlessness and impotence, necessary for their livelihood,” he said in the judgment.
The magistrate also noted that, in this case, the company did not guarantee the driver the safety expected in using the application. The judge recalled that the evidence showed that the cloning was a third party action that took place in the application itself. Information such as name, telephone number and access code was requested via text message from Uber’s own system. “I understand that the defendant did not act in its duty of cooperation and protection, as it did not guarantee the contracting partner the security expected in the use of his application to develop his activity, nor did it provide the contractual partner No blame for the incident,” he defended.
Uber was ordered to pay R$2,000 for moral damages and failed to pay the driver $3,300.00 for the 33 days he was not working due to unreasonable suspension. The company must also pay the amount of R$412.80, which was in the driver’s account on the platform prior to the fraud, and re-activate the victim’s registration as a participant driver, under penalty of penalty. Judgment from sentence can be appealed.
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In defense, Uber said it did not commit any illegal acts, as it was fraud by a third party and that it restricted access to the platform through a suspicious device as a security measure. The company also defended that there is no damage to be compensated. Wanted by the report, Uber chose not to comment on the decision.
