Uber Technologies Inc. now faces a civil suit on its home turf as it battles regulatory and legal challenges in cities around the world.
The district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles on Tuesday sued Uber for allegedly misleading consumers and said it is seeking a permanent injunction of the business until it complies with California law. George Gascón, the district attorney of San Francisco, and Jackie Lacey, his counterpart in Los Angeles, allege, among other issues, that Uber is misleading customers into believing they screen out drivers who have ever committed criminal offenses.
The district attorneys had warned Uber and its smaller rivals, Lyft Inc. and Sidecar Inc., of certain violations in letters delivered in September. The regulators said Tuesday they settled with Lyft, which agreed to pay $500,000 in civil penalties.
Sidecar wasn’t mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement, but spokeswomen from both the company and the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Sidecar and the regulators are still in discussions.
Uber, valued by investors at $41.2 billion in a round of funding last week, is fending off challenges from regulators world-wide as it tries to expand quickly overseas. On Tuesday, India’s federal government called for a ban on Uber and other companies that use smartphone apps to hail drivers in light of allegations that an Uber driver raped a passenger. Uber faces bans in various cities across the world, from Las Vegas to Frankfurt.
An expanded version of this article appears at WSJ.com.
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