Uber Lawyer Says Ex-Employee's Payout Was 'Extortionist' Move

Demands by a former Uber Technologies Inc. employee Ric Jacobs, who was granted $4.5 million this year in a settlement agreement over his claims about the company's secrecy measures, were "clearly extortionist," said one of Uber's top attorneys Wednesday. "Given the huge sums of money that Mr. Jacobs was demanding at the outset, I felt it was clearly extortionist, especially given the low value of his claims," said Angela Padilla, Uber's deputy general counsel, testifying at a hearing in federal court related to Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s suit against Uber over trade secrets allegedly stolen from Alphabet's Waymo unit, which is developing self-driving cars. But the judge challenged Ms. Padilla's claims regarding Mr. Jacobs's demands. "People don't pay that kind of money for'B.S.,'" he said. Mr. Jacobs has been retained by Uber to help investigate his own claims, in conjunction with law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP.