Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and his company got a reprimand from a US court on July 25. The San Francsico Company allegedly hired a private detective firm to gather information intended to harass the plaintiff and his counsel.
Uber is currently being used by Spencer Meyer for price-fixing, according to Reuters. The company allegedly colluded with its drivers to charge higher fares when the demand for their service gets higher. Uber makes money base on the amount of earned by the drivers. Meyers filed the lawsuit late last year, according to The Verge.
Judge Jed Rakoff laid out a ruling that any information obtained about Meyer and his counsel will be inadmissible if they are obtained by the security company Ergo. Uber hired the firm in order to gather professional and personal details from the plaintiff. The judge said he was saddened that a company such as Uber and Ergo would resort to such demeaning tactics in order to win their case.
Kalanick is said to have agreed with the ruling as long as he and Uber will not declare that they did something illegal. Ergo and its legal representatives have preferred to remain mum on the issue.
The judge pointed out that Ergo detective Miguel Santos-Neves conducted his investigation in a "deceitful and possibly illegal manner." It was also found out that Neves does not have the license to work as a private investigator at that time.
Neves practically lied to the plaintiff's friends and colleagues in his bid to gather information. Rakoff also said that the detective's deceitful method could have only been permitted by his superiors at Ergo.
Uber defended its decision to hire Ergo citing the dangers that executives of high profiles companies faced in the form "malicious lawsuits".
The lawsuit is currently being heard in New York's southern district, case number 15-09796.
