Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that his office is among 22 state and county law enforcement agencies joining a federal lawsuit against Uber.
Uber has been accused of charging customers for subscriptions to its Uber One service without consent, failing to deliver promised benefits such as free deliveries and monthly savings and making subscriptions difficult to cancel.
Uber One is a monthly or yearly subscription service that promises $0 delivery fees and up to $25 in monthly savings; however, the FTC said consumers reported failures to receive both promised benefits.
The complaint alleges that Uber users were enrolled in the service without their knowledge, including those who signed up for a free trial and were automatically charged if they failed to cancel the service. The filing also described cancelling an Uber One subscription as “exceedingly difficult,” citing that users had to navigate 23 screens and take up to 32 actions to end their subscription.
The complaint seeks civil penalties from Uber for the company’s alleged violations of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act as well as state consumer protection laws, such as Alabama’s Consumer Protection Act.
A previous deceptive practices lawsuit was filed against the ride-booking companies Uber Technologies Inc. and Uber USA LLC by the Federal Trade Commission in April. The FTC, alongside 21 states and the District of Columbia, filed an amended complaint against Uber in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday.
In a Wednesday press release, Marshall’s office wrote that the attorney general, through involvement in the suit, is seeking restitution for customers, penalties and costs against Uber as well as an injunction against the ride-hailing giant’s allegedly deceptive subscription practices.
“Big corporations like Uber don’t get a free pass to break the law. Advertising ‘free’ trials and then trapping consumers in subscriptions they can’t easily cancel is deceptive, plain and simple,” Marshall said in a written statement.
“Millions of Americans signed up for Uber One trusting the company’s promises. Others never signed up at all yet were charged anyway,” the attorney general continued. “That kind of corporate abuse is exactly why our coalition joined the FTC’s lawsuit. We are standing up for consumers and sending a clear message: no company, no matter how big, is above the law.”
As of early 2025, Uber served more than 180 million monthly active users worldwide, with the service available in more than 200 cities in Alabama. Uber has denied the allegations set forth by the FTC and lawsuit partners.
“The majority of cancellations take 20 seconds or less and can be done in the app anytime,” Uber told Reuters in an emailed statement on Monday. “Prior to December 2024, as explained during sign up, consumers within 48 hours of their next billing period had to contact Support in order to cancel.”
Since the amended complaint was announced on Monday, Uber’s stock price has dropped nearly 6 percent.
The coalition is being led by Maryland and includes the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, D.C., Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, alongside the district attorney for Alameda County, California.
Marshall urged affected customers in Alabama to notify the attorney general’s office of their claims by filing an online consumer complaint or by calling Alabama’s Consumer Hotline.
The trial for the suit is currently scheduled for February 2027.
