The end of Uber and Lyft as we know them? Crusading attorney puts "sharing economy" on trial.

http://m.therecorder.com/module/alm/app/ca.do#!/article/1741937072

Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan is based in Boston but she's lately been in a couple of Federal Courtrooms in San Francisco opening up a potential can of worms (or possibly whup ass) for the Silicon Valley high tech bullshit rappers who run Uber, Lyft and other so called "sharing economy" exploitation rackets. It's really pretty simple. Uber, Lyft and companies that provide services like house cleaning, claim not to be employers and that their workers aren't employees but are independent contractors, not even contracted with the companies that cut their paychecks, set their prices, assign them jobs, rate their performance and can suspend or even fire them.

Uber and Lyft claim that their critics are Luddites who are trying to halt the tide of technology. As one of those critics I disagree. I am fighting super exploitation of the drivers and reckless abandon concerning the dangers of distracted driving caused by driver apps.

Uber drivers strike in Florida, say they don't make enough money to maintain a car.

If Uber and Lyft's "secret sauce" is technology and not reckless exploitation they should be able to pay their drivers minimum wage, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, workers compensation, and expenses like the 57.5 cents per mile it costs to run a car. My guess is that they can't - though they are multi billion dollar corporations. If the price is too steep, as they claim, and as I suspect, they're free to go back to the drawing board. Juries will soon be hearing the cases, and other law firms are showing interest in these types of cases which will proliferate.