Taxi vs Uber: the largest class action suits in Aussie history -

Uber might be sued for a whopping $500 million by all Victorian taxi and hire car drivers, licence holders and operators, according to Maurice Blackburn. The law firm looking into the class action against Uber believes, if successful, it could eclipse the Black Saturday payout, which they also won.

Find out more about the class action payout that could potentially be the largest in Australian history.

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Unregulated - On behalf of all Victorian taxi drivers, hire car drivers, licence holders and operators the class action is looking to recover damages during the time Uber spent unregulated in Victoria.

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Uber - Victoria was the first state to introduce Uber in 2014, however, it was not fully legislated by the State Government until 2017.

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Three years - Taxi drivers had to fork out substantial amounts to keep up with prohibitively expensive regulations, whilst Uber wasn't forced to comply during a three year period.

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"Stop illegal Uber" - During 2015, taxi drivers in Sydney and Melbourne rallied together, demanding that Uber be outlawed.

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Legalised - Uber was officially legalised in August 2017, after it was found that Uber met the criteria for a public passenger service and should be subject to relevant regulations.

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Impact - However, the entry of Uber without legal permission in 2014 negatively impacted at least 6000 taxi and hire licence holders in Melbourne.

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Damages - Maurice Blackburn will be looking to recover damages for loss of livelihood from January 1, 2013, to July 31, 2017 from Uber on behalf of these taxi and hire car drivers, operators and license holders.

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Losses - "We expect the losses to be significant, but we will get a better idea of that once we've had some time for people to register and we are able to assess that in more detail," said Maurice Blackburn's class action Principal Ben Slade in a media statement. 

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Largest payout in Aussie history - It is estimated that the law firm could seek as much as $500 million from Uber for the damages.

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Worst bushfire in Australian history - On February 7, 2009, disaster struck when power poles owned by SP AusNet were blown down by high winds and sparked fires in Kilmore East, as well as the Murrindindi Saw Mill.

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Kilmore East - Kinglake - The largest class action settlement in Australian history was the Kilmore East - Kinglake class-action payout of over $494 million.

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Murrindindi - Marysville -

There was also the Murrindindi - Marysville Bushfire class action that distributed $300 million in compensation.

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Disaster - Throughout Victoria, numerous bushfires raged that day, but when the Kinglake and Marysville fires merged it became the largest and most fatal of them all, killing 159 people in the region.

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Black Saturday - The two major Black Saturday class actions against SP AusNet were handled by Maurice Blackburn. The settlements combined amounted to $700 million in compensation.

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Australia's big banks - In 2010, Maurice Blackburn filed a class action suit against ANZ, then later against Commonwealth, Westpac, NAB and Citibank, for a series of bank fees siphoned from customers.

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It adds up - It has become the largest collective legal action in Australia with the claim size estimated at more than $240 million. The case is still ongoing.

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Six years of fees - Customers were being charged additional bank fees, and the initial class action against ANZ included the previous six years of fees.

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Too many - These fees include honour and dishonour fees on bank accounts, as well as over limit fees and late payment fees on credit cards.

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Unfair - Those who were charged these unfair fees by the banks, over 185,000 Australians, signed up to be part of the action in the attempt to reclaim their money, plus interest.

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Sigma Pharmaceuticals class action - Slater and Gordan law firm filed a class action suit against the company now known as Sigma Healthcare, on behalf of shareholders due to deceptive conduct.

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Financial crisis -

The generic drug manufacturing business failed to disclose important information to shareholders and the market between September 7, 2009, and February 25, 2010.

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Guidance - Through Sigma's profit guidance of the year ending January 31, 2010, it predicted the market should expect modest growth with no major changes or disruptions to the business.

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Halt -

However, there was a trading halt in February 2010 that lasted five weeks, and Sigma released results of a 55% loss in the year ending January 31, 2010.

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Settled - In 2012, Sigma paid the settlement of $57.5 million for the alleged deception, but under the terms of the settlement did not admit liability.

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Centro class action -

In 2008, Maurice Blackburn filed related class actions against ASX-listed entities Centro Properties Ltd and Centro Retail Ltd.

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Shareholders -

On behalf of all who acquired an interest in the two companies, the class action alleged that the companies breached their obligations of continuous disclosure, and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.

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Failed to disclose -

The two companies failed to adequately disclose debt obligations and relevant profit forecasts to their security holders and to the ASX.

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Reveal -

When it was revealed that their billions of dollars of maturing debt was unable to be refinanced, their shares fell dramatically.

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Centro -

Within the two class actions, a combined $200 million settlement was agreed upon. This was the largest shareholder class action suit in Australia.

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