Ride sharing firms face court battle
The two largest ride sharing firms could be facing off in a court of law after Lyft filed a lawsuit against former COO Travis VanderZanden who defected to rival company Uber.
The action alleges Travis VanderZanden was in possession of confidential Lyft documents outlining its overseas expansion plans.
The lawsuit claims VanderZanden transferred ‘Lyft’s most sensitive documents’ containing financial information, customer data, personnel records and overseas growth forecasts to a personal Dropbox account before leaving the company.
VanderZanden left Lyft in August and was then appointed vice president of international growth at Uber last month.
Lyft says he has used the ‘proprietary data’ in his role at Uber.
"We are disappointed to have to take this step, but this unusual situation has left us no choice but to take the necessary legal action to protect our confidential information," a Lyft statement said.
"We are incredibly proud of the dedicated and people-powered culture that we’ve fostered to support drivers, passengers and the entire Lyft community and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour."
The breach of contract complaint was filed in the in state court in San Francisco where both firms are based.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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