> The reason Uber doesn't buy cars and hire drivers is: 1) it insulates them from legal liability .... Uber hopes it will do that, and to a certain extent it v

> The reason Uber doesn't buy cars and hire drivers is: 1) it insulates them from legal liability .... Uber hopes it will do that, and to a certain extent it very well might --- but personal-injury plaintiffs' lawyers are remarkably creative in coming up with arguments why they should be allowed to recover damages (and percentage-of-the-recovery contingent fees) from any deep pockets in sight. Sometimes, some of those arguments succeed in persuading judges. On a tangential note, I predict someday soon some subset of Uber drivers will be suing Uber for overtime, unemployment benefits, etc., on grounds that, no matter what the contracts say, under the law the drivers purportedly are "employees," not independent contractors. [1] This is a not-infrequent occurrence with delivery-service drivers; see, e.g., Narayan v. EGL Inc., 616 F.3d 895, 898-99 (9th Cir. 2010) [2]. [1] I've long thought that much of legal advocacy could be summed up in two words: Yeah, but .... [2] http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=18394214241619035573 http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1839421424161903...