Kramer Levin Secures Federal Court’s Dismissal of $4+ Billion Class Action Against Empower

On Nov. 21, 2023, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of our client Empower, dismissing a $4+ billion class action.

Empower sells software and support services to drivers who provide rides for hire on their own behalf in competition with Uber, Lyft and other private for-hire transportation providers. Unlike with Uber and Lyft, with Empower, drivers are the customer; they set their own rates and keep 100% of the fare. Drivers using Empower have provided over 4 million rides in the D.C. metro area.

A rider who booked a ride with one of Empower's customers filed a class action suit. The rider was in a minor accident and alleged that Empower had somehow deceived them (and hundreds of thousands of other riders) into believing that Empower is a transportation company like Uber and Lyft. Kramer Levin’s motion to dismiss demonstrated that, to the contrary, Empower's messaging and marketing center on how Empower is very different from Uber or Lyft.

Without even requiring a hearing, the district court agreed that the plaintiff had not plausibly alleged that, had they known Empower was not like Uber or Lyft, they would not have booked their ride with an Empower customer. The district court suggested that this pleading defect might be explained by the fact that the plaintiff had taken over 60 rides (and now over 150 rides) with Empower customers even after filing the suit.