Angry taxi and hire car drivers will sue share-ride giant Uber for taking their livelihoods while operating without legal approval in Victoria.
Lawfirm Maurice Blackburn will lodge the class action in the Victorian Supreme Court in coming weeks into Uber's "conspiracy to act unlawfully", senior associate Elizabeth O'Shea told AAP.
"We expect it (the class action) to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars," she said of the damages.
About 1000 people who held a licence while Uber was "operating unlawfully" and lost income or licence value as a result, have joined the action, Ms O'Shea said.
"We are very close to finalising the timing but there is a bit of paperwork yet to be done," she said.
Uber has been contacted for comment.
Ms O'Shea said the lawsuit would be bankrolled externally, with $20 million already offered so drivers don't have to use their own cash.
"We do not want the drivers to dip into their own pockets," she said.
The full list of claimants is yet to be finalised and registration to join the action over Uber's conduct between April 1, 2014 and July 31, 2017, remains open.
The firm began investigating the "complex and difficult" case last year before only "relatively recently" deciding to take it on, she said.
