Boston Taxi Owners File Lawsuit Over Operations Of Ride-Hailing Services

A lawsuit has been filed by a group of taxi owners who are accusing the City of Boston of violating their constitutional rights by allowing ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, to unfairly and illegally operate within the city.

The lawsuit was filed by two taxi owners and an industry group, the Boston Taxi Owners Association, in which they accuse the city of destroying the value of their taxi medallions, which allow a company to operate cabs in the city and can cost as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars. The plaintiffs are asking the court to ensure that drivers with these ride-hailing services are subject to the same regulations as their taxi companies face. Additionally, the taxi owners are asking for unspecified monetary damages.

“The City has…permitted the de facto taxi companies to flout the law with open impunity by deploying an invasion of unlicensed cars and drivers with no requirements of any medallion,” the lawsuit said.

The taxi owners’ lawyer, Jenifer Pinkham, explained that her clients expect an even playing field with ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. “The city has truly just turned a blind eye in allowing them to operate in the city,” said Pinkham. She continued by explaining that her clients have been facing increased hardships due to the competition with such services. Melina Schuler, a spokesperson for Boston, simply said that city officials had not yet received the complaint but that they will review it once it arrives.

Uber has been running in Boston since 2011, and this lawsuit is the latest move in a long-running battle between traditional taxis and newer ride-hailing services. Detractors of ride-hailing services have pointed to recent allegations of sexual assaults involving women using Uber as another sign that these services need to be subject to more stringent regulations.

The lawsuit claims that the city is violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, based on the fact that these ride-hailing operations provide the same services as their companies but are not subject to the same rules. “That the de facto taxi companies dispatch the car and driver via smartphone does not distinguish their business activity from that of traditional taxis, which also now use smartphones,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also takes issue with recently proposed state regulations for ride-hailing services. Under those regulations, ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft would be categorized as “transportation network companies” and as such would be regulated by the state Department of Public Utilities. The taxi owners have filed an emergency motion asking the court to prevent the state from enacting the regulations, based on the fact that it would “create an irrational, two-tiered regulatory system that unconstitutionally harms the economic property interests of taxicab medallion owners and drivers.”

Although there have been moves toward state oversight for the ride-hailing companies, Boston has convened a 24-person advisory committee that is dedicated to examining regulations for taxis and services such as Uber and Lyft.

Boston’s police commissioner William Evans, the Department of Public Utilities, the state Department of Transportation, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin are all named as codefendants in this recently filed lawsuit. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.