Atlanta Taxicab Co. Owners Ass'n v. Atlanta

• Decision Date: 30 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. S06A0923.,S06A0923.
• Citation: 638 S.E.2d 307,281 Ga. 342
• Parties: ATLANTA TAXICAB COMPANY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. v. CITY OF ATLANTA.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

281 Ga. 342

638 S.E.2d 307

ATLANTA TAXICAB COMPANY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. v. CITY OF ATLANTA.

No. S06A0923.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

November 30, 2006.

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George Brian Spears, Atlanta, for Appellant.

R. Roger Bhandari, Laura J. Broward, City of Atlanta Law Department, Atlanta, for Appellee.

CARLEY, Justice.

The Atlanta Taxicab Company Owners Association, Inc. (Association) is a nonprofit corporation comprised of several companies. Its members are holders of a Certificates of Public Necessity and Convenience (CPNC) issued by the City of Atlanta (City). A CPNC is required for operation of a cab or limousine in the City. Holders of a CPNC must comply with Chapter 162 of the City Code, pursuant to the provisions of which the City regulates the taxicab industry. As a business investment, the CPNC is transferable "pursuant to a purchase, gift bequest or acquisition of the stock or asset of a corporation...." Section 162-62(a) of the City Code. Moreover, the interest "in a CPNC may be transferred involuntarily and disposed of by public or private sale in the same manner as personal property." Section 162-62(a)(8) of the City Code. Notwithstanding these provisions regarding general transferability, the transferee is required to "submit an application for a CPNC and ... meet all requirements for same." Section 162-62(a)(3) of the City Code. One of those requirements is residency in Georgia "for at least one year immediately preceding the date of application...." Section 162-57(a)(3) of the City Code.

The Association brought suit against the City, seeking damages and a declaration that various sections of Chapter 162 were unconstitutional. After conducting a hearing, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the City. The Association brings this appeal from the trial court's order.

1. The City Council has established a Bureau of Taxicabs and Vehicles for Hire (Bureau), and authorized an administrative hearing procedure for the enforcement of those provisions of the City Code regulating taxicabs. The Association contends that the creation of that hearing procedure is an ultra vires act, because the City Council lacks the authority to divest the municipal court of jurisdiction to hear such cases.

"The power granted to municipal corporations ... shall not be construed to extend to ... [a]ction affecting the jurisdiction of any court...." OCGA § 36-35-6(a)(6). Thus, the City cannot impede the exercise of the jurisdiction that has been granted to any court. Insofar as the jurisdiction of the City's municipal court is concerned, § 4-102(1) of the City Charter provides that that court is authorized to hear cases involving all violations of ordinances, "except those relating to and regulating traffic...." Ga. L. 1996, pp. 4469, 4515. Assuming, without deciding, that an exclusion from the municipal court's jurisdiction of such ordinance violations as relate to the regulation of "traffic" is not otherwise broad enough to encompass those violations related to the regulation of taxicabs, the fact still remains that the City Charter does not purport to grant that court exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving violations of ordinances relating to and regulating such vehicles for hire. The provisions of § 4-102(1) of the City Charter are consistent with the concept of concurrent jurisdiction. While the municipal court is granted general jurisdiction over most cases involving ordinance violations, there is nothing to indicate that the City is not authorized to provide for an alternate means of adjudicating cases involving violations of provisions of the City Code, including the violation of those ordinances directed toward the regulation of taxicabs.

To the contrary, § 1-102(36) of the City Charter expressly provides that the City has the power "[t]o regulate and license vehicles operated for hire in the city...." Ga. L. 1996, pp. 4469, 4477. Under § 3-401(a) and (i) of the City Charter, the City Council is also authorized to create boards and commissions and to specify their functions. Ga. L. 1996, pp. 4469, 4506-4507. Thus, in establishing the Bureau and by providing for administrative hearings to facilitate the enforcement of the regulation of taxicabs, the City Council did not act ultra vires and divest the municipal court of any jurisdiction granted exclusively to that court. The City Council exercised the regulatory authority over taxicabs granted to it by the City Charter. Therefore, the trial court correctly upheld the provisions of the City Code creating the Bureau and the administrative hearing procedure.

2. To qualify for a CPNC, the City requires that the holder be a resident of Georgia for at least one year. The Association contends that this residency requirement is unconstitutional because it violates the Commerce Clause.

Nothing about the [Association's] service affects interstate commerce. The service is incidental to a local operation and we would not be justified in resorting to impractical theorizing in order to conclude that a local ride in a local taxi-cab affects interstate commerce.

Airport Taxi Cab Advisory Committee v. City of Atlanta, 584 F.Supp. 961, 964(1) (N.D.Ga.1983) (upholding the City's residency requirement for taxi drivers as against an equal protection challenge). However, the City, through its ordinances, does not limit its regulation of the taxi business to those who actually provide the local services. It also exercises control over who can own and operate a local taxi business. Although a CPNC is needed for operation of a cab or limousine in the City, the ordinance provides that the holder of the CPNC is not required to be the actual operator of the vehicle. Thus, the CPNC is a certificate that the vehicle owner must obtain to authorize its use for hire in the City. Accordingly, the one-year residency requirement restricts to Georgia residents those who can apply for a CPNC and those to whom current CPNC holders can sell or lease their property interest in the certificate. Consequently, the residency requirement prohibits all non-Georgians from engaging in the taxi business in the City.

Whether the Association has standing to raise this issue was addressed below, and the trial court determined that the Association has "associational standing" in accordance with Aldridge v. Ga. Hospitality & Travel Assn., 251 Ga. 234, 236(1), 304 S.E.2d 708 (1983):

"(A)n association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when: (a) its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right; (b) the interests it seeks to protect are germane to the organization's purpose; and (c) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit." [Cit.]

Here, every member of the Association is affected by the residency requirement, in that none of them is at liberty to sell or lease his or her CPNC to a non-resident of Georgia. The removal of this impediment to the sale or lease of a CPNC is clearly relevant to the Association's purpose. Since the ordinance has a common adverse impact on the Association's collective membership, participation of the individual members themselves is not required to determine the merits of the claim.

Standing does not require a showing that any particular individual member of the Association has already suffered an actual injury by being prevented from consummating the sale or lease of a CPNC to a non-resident. "In order to challenge a statute or an administrative action taken pursuant to a statute, the plaintiff must normally show that it has interests or rights which are or will be affected by the statute or the action. [Cits.]" (Emphasis supplied.) Preservation Alliance of Savannah v. Norfolk Southern Corp., 202 Ga.App. 116, 117, 413 S.E.2d 519 (1991).

"Before a statute can be attacked by anyone on the ground of its unconstitutionality, he must show that its enforcement is an infringement upon his right of person or property, and that such infringement results from the unconstitutional feature of the statute upon which he bases his attack. [Cits.]"

Crumley v. Head, 225 Ga. 246, 247(3), 167 S.E.2d 651 (1969). The ordinance at issue in this case, if enforced according to its terms, serves as an immediate infringement on the property rights enjoyed by all members of the Association, in that the provision erects an existing impediment to the solicitation, as well as the eventual consummation, of any sale or lease of a CPNC to a non-Georgian. Obviously, no out-of-state prospective buyer or lessee would ever seriously consider entering into a contract with a member of the Association knowing that the validity of the agreement is subject to challenge under the residency requirement. The Association, on behalf of its members, is entitled to contest the constitutionality of that residency provision in an effort to remove it as an existing impediment to the marketability of a CPNC to non-residents.

[E]nforcement of the local enactment against [them] will impact [their] right to engage freely in those business activities currently authorized by the [CPNC] issued to [them] under the Act. Therefore, [the Association] has standing to assert that the ordinance is unconstitutional as applied to it[s members.]. [Cits.] (Emphasis supplied.)

City of Atlanta v. S.W.A.N. Consulting & Security Services, 274 Ga. 277, 278(1), 553 S.E.2d 594 (2001). The trial court correctly held that the Association has standing and, accordingly, the merits of the attack on the constitutionality of the provision under the Commerce Clause must be addressed. Compare Adams v. Ga. Dept. of Corrections, 274 Ga. 461, 463, 553 S.E.2d 798 (2001) (appellants mere self-proclaimed champions of the community who were "not directly affected" by the challenged statute).

As a "general principle[,] ... the Commerce Clause prohibits a State from using its regulatory...