On 1 July 2015, Hanna Legal commenced civil litigation behalf of Uber BV and Uber Australia in the Supreme Court of NSW against Russell Howarth, a Sydney hire care driver who had been making what he alleged were “citizen’s arrests” of Uber drivers.  

On the same date, we successfully applied for an interim injunction against Mr Howarth, which restrained him from detaining any more Uber drivers.  For more information, see: Uber wins injunction to stop vigilante driver making citizen’s arrests, The Australian, 1 July 2015.

Mr Howarth defended the case and it proceeded to a final hearing in April 2017. 

Uber was successful at the hearing and on 3 April 2017 the Supreme Court granted a permanent injunction against Mr Howarth.  For more information, see: Anti-Uber activist Russell Howarth ‘terrorised’ drivers, told to stop harassment, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2017. To read the judgment, see: Uber BV & Anor v Howarth [2017] NSWSC 54.  

The judgment was the first case to appear in LawyersWeekly’s 8 landmark decisions that made headlines in 2017. 

After winning the hearing, Hanna Legal applied for costs on behalf of Uber.  The application was successful and Mr Howarth was ordered to pay Uber’s legal costs in the sum of almost $400,000.  For more information, see: Anti-Uber activist Russell Howarth ordered to pay $400,000 in legal costs, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 July 2017.  To read the judgment, see: Uber BV & Anor v Howarth (No. 2) [2017] NSWSC 889.

Photograph obtained from www.news.com.au