Judges Call for Juries to Decide whether Uber and Lyft Drivers are Independent Contractors

A pair of U.S. District Court judges have called for juries to decide whether the drivers of ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft are employees or independent contractors. Judge Vince Chhabria, who is presiding over Cotter v. Lyft in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, wrote in a decision this week that California's standards for determining who is and isn't an independent contractor is "outmoded" and ill-equipped to handle the business model of companies in the new "sharing economy." "The jury in this case will be handed a squ...