SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft Inc. has reached a new $27 million settlement with California drivers to end litigation over their independent contractor status, after a federal judge threw out an earlier deal as too low.
The monetary aspect of the deal is more than double the $12.25 million payment that was rejected last month by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California. Chhabria said that amount “shortchanged” drivers and insisted that any future deal be at least 17 percent of the expenses that would be owed to Lyft drivers if they prevailed at trial.
