The HCMC People’s Court today, September 24, once again suspended the lawsuit of traditional taxi firm Vinasun against ride-hailing firm Grab, demanding noncontractual compensation, as proposed by Grab, reported news website Vietnamplus.

Grab cars are parked along a street. Vinasun’s lawsuit against Grab has been suspended again

According to Grab, it has appealed against a decision to choose Cuu Long Company to determine the losses of Vinasun as Cuu Long does not have the necessary knowledge and experience for the task. Besides this, the loss assessment costs were covered by Vinasun, which is unreasonable and may affect the loss assessment results, the company argued.

In addition, the loss assessment report was released on August 20, but Grab was only issued a copy of the 5,000-page report on September 11. The firm will need at least a month to study and analyze the report.

The trial is expected to resume on October 17.

The HCMC People’s Court had delayed the hearing of the case between Vinasun and Grab twice, on February 7 and March 7, calling for further evidence from both parties as well as documentation from the HCMC Departments of Transport and Planning and Investment.

According to Vinasun, Grab has not complied with prevailing regulations. The Ministry of Transport’s Decision 24 on the pilot scheme for ride-hailing services indicated that Grab was permitted to operate as a ride-hailing service provider.

However, Grab technically operates as a transport firm like traditional taxi firms, according to Vinasun.

Vinasun claimed that Grab often offers promotional programs for customers and issues points to drivers to promote its transport service. The ride-hailing firm’s activities therefore constitute a transport service by nature, not merely a technology service.

Vinasun also cited a report from the HCMC Department of Transport as showing that over 12,900 vehicles had been registered with Grab, while Vinasun had had only 6,000 vehicles as of June last year. However, Vinasun had to pay more than VND1 trillion in taxes, while Grab had to pay only VND10 billion.

As such, Vinasun has demanded that Grab pay VND41.2 billion to compensate Vinasun’s losses.

SGT