DLA Piper wins landmark case for aggregating industry in Russian Supreme Court

DLA Piper has won a landmark case representing Gett, a technology platform focused on corporate ground transportation management, in a dispute with the Moscow Administrative Road Inspection (MADI).

MADI filed a claim in May 2020 with the intent of obliging Gett to constantly have to verify licences of taxi fleets for the carriage of passengers in Moscow and the Moscow Region. Unlike other major aggregators, the parties failed to conclude an amicable agreement and, with the assistance of DLA Piper, Gett successfully defended its rights in the courts of three instances, as well as in the Russian Supreme Court.

In its ruling, the Russian Supreme Court ultimately confirmed that so-called taxi aggregators are not bound by law to check that carriers are complying with statutory requirements, including licences for taxi services.

This case ends a long series of disputes with state authorities (such as the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing), and is key to the development of legal practices around allocating obligations and liability between state authorities, aggregators and the service providers.

The Moscow-based DLA Piper team was led by Igor Arakelov, Head of Aggregator and Marketplace in Russia.