Anthony Levandowski, Uber’s former VP of engineering who led the company’s self-driving technology efforts, has asked Uber to pay the $179 million he owes Google, a result of Google’s lawsuit against him for misappropriating trade secrets related to autonomous vehicles. Levandowski has asked the Northern District of California to order Uber into arbitration.
Levandowski founded a self-driving truck startup, Otto, which Uber later acquired; as a result of the acquisition, he argued that Uber was aware of the situation that led him to leave his previous employer, Google. Levandowski stated that Uber’s investigator found that he “had files belonging to Google on his devices and had tried to recruit a number of Google employees for his new company while he still worked for Google.” Levandowski claimed he told Uber that Google would probably sue if they bought Otto. Uber’s terms of acquisition “included a sweeping indemnification commitment for OTTO employees, including Levandowski.” Further, Uber supposedly promised to defend Levandowski against a potential lawsuit from Google, “even if he was accused of serious misconduct.” Levandowski claimed Uber would protect him “if he was accused of misappropriation of trade secrets or breach of loyalty to a former employer”; Google eventually sued Levandowski and those were two of the large claims against him. Per the indemnification clause, Uber would “pay any expenses arising out of a lawsuit from a former employer, including damages.”
Google’s suit against Levandowski began in 2016, upon which he invoked the indemnification clause. Uber’s lawyers defended him, but the relationship took a turn when he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the suit over concerns that he may face criminal charges. Uber then fired Levandowski, but he stated that Uber covered his legal costs for the next two years until towards the end of 2019 when Uber communicated that the company would not defend him anymore and would not pay the $179 million judgment against him.
Uber claimed the indemnification clause was void because Levandowski failed to disclose to Uber that he created Tyto, a LIDAR startup, while working at Google. Uber claimed that Levandowski “breached his duties to Google by secretly forming Tyto while working on similar technologies on Google’s payroll.” However, Levandowski rejected this notion, stating that he disclosed this information before the Otto acquisition. He also stated that Uber would have known about this when its lawyers began defending him in the suit against Google. As a result, Levandowski argued that Uber should pay the $179 million he was ordered to pay Google.
Levandowski was forced to file for bankruptcy as a result of the $179 million judgment. If Uber is required to pay this judgment and his legal fees, that would be a major victory for Levandowski. He also recently pleaded guilty in a separate case for stealing confidential information from Google; he could face at least two years in jail.