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(Bloomberg) -- Uber agreed to pay A$271.8 million ($178 million) to compensate thousands of taxi drivers in Australia who claimed they lost income when the ride-share company entered the local market.

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Uber Technologies Inc. settled the class action brought by more than 8,000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, which filed the suit in 2019, said Monday. The law firm described the payment as the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australian legal history.

“Uber has been held to account for its actions,” Maurice Blackburn Lawyers Principal Michael Donelly said in a statement.

Uber said in a statement it had made “significant contributions” to taxi compensation programs in Australian states since 2018. “With today’s proposed settlement, we put these legacy issues firmly in our past,” it said. The ride-sharing company said it couldn’t comment on details of the agreement.

Read More: Uber Strikes Deal With London Drivers to Put Black Cabs on App

Uber has tussled with taxi drivers around the world. In December, it won a lawsuit brought against it by 2,500 French taxi drivers, when a Paris court ruled that the company hadn’t committed any act of unfair competition.

(Adds Uber comment from Uber in fourth paragraph.)

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