New York Taxi Owners Defeated in Evolving Transport Lawsuit

With the rise of the sharing economy, there are undoubtedly several industries that have been disrupted, and some are rightfully upset.

This is why it comes as no surprise that several taxi owners have been up in arms about ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. While they are bound to follow certain restrictions, ridesharing services seemingly get away without having to enforce the same policies.

Just last week, a federal judge dismissed a taxi owners and lenders case against New York City and its Taxi and Limousine Commission. The case alleged that these top organizations were putting the city’s taxi services at risk with cumbersome regulations. The U.S. District Judge on the case said the credit unions, taxi owners and lenders did not illustrate that they were denied due process or equal protection on city-wide taxi regulations.

The credit unions involved in the case have a total of 4,600 medallion loans equal to just north of $2.4 billion.

As the rise of Uber and Lyft continues, the value of the taxi medallions have fallen significantly. At its peek time in 2014, New York City taxi medallions sold for $1.3 million. They now are listed for about half that price. With the current loans out and ridesharing services not going away any time soon, there’s likely to be an ongoing battle on this front.

Todd Higgins, one of the lawyers on the plaintiffs’ side, commented on the case decision and how he will help push forward: “Make no mistake about it — we fully expect the fight on behalf of the New York City taxicab industry to continue in state and federal court for as long as it takes.”