Padberg v. McGrath-Mckechnie
| Decision Date | 29 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-CV-3355.,00-CV-3355. |
| Citation | 203 F.Supp.2d 261 |
| Parties | John PADBERG, Clifford Paolillo and Rashid Ahmed, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Diane MCGRATH-MCKECHNIE, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Joseph Mckay, Matthew Daus, Harry Rubinstein, Elliot Sander, Harvey Giannoulis, Marvin Greenberg, Ramona Whaley and the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, Defendants. Abid Baig, Mohammed Khan, Khalid Mahmood, Mulugheta Sultan, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Plaintiffs, v. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mayor of the City of New York, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, and Diane Mcgrath-Mckechnie, Commissioner/Chairperson of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Daniel L. Ackman, Brad E. Mazarin, Block & Mazarin, New York City, for Padberg plaintiffs.
Chaumtoli Huq, Kenneth Kimerling, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York City, for Baig plaintiffs.
Jerald Horowitz, Michael D. Hess, Gabriel Taussig, Deborah Rand, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York City, for defendants.
Plaintiffs in the above-captioned cases commenced these actions pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to challenge "Operation Refusal," an initiative started in 1999 by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission ("TLC" or "Commission"), former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Diane McGrath-McKechnie, the Chairperson of the TLC, to increase disciplinary action against taxicab drivers who refuse service on impermissible grounds. Specifically, plaintiffs challenge two policies of Operation Refusal claiming they violated their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The first practice is the summary suspension of taxicab licenses upon a charge of an unjustified service refusal. The second practice is the suspension or revocation of taxicab licenses, after a hearing, for first and second service refusal offenses. The individual plaintiffs in Padberg v. McGrath-McKechnie ("Padberg plaintiffs") and Baig v. Guiliani ("Baig plaintiffs") are taxicab drivers whose licenses were summarily suspended pursuant to the first practice and who faced suspension or revocation of their licenses pursuant to the second policy. The Baig plaintiffs also include the New York Taxi Workers Alliance ("NYTWA"), a membership organization devoted to preserving the rights of taxi drivers and improving working conditions for taxi drivers in New York City.
This Court previously denied the Padberg plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction when they sought to enjoin the TLC from suspending or revoking licenses pursuant to the challenged practices, and to have the TLC return those licenses already suspended or revoked pursuant to the challenged practices. See Padberg v. McGrath-McKechnie, 108 F.Supp.2d 177, 190 (E.D.N.Y.2000). The Baig plaintiffs subsequently commenced a separate § 1983 suit to challenge the very same conduct, asking the Court for a preliminary injunction enjoining the challenged TLC practices and seeking the return of licenses suspended or revoked pursuant to those policies. The Padberg plaintiffs then moved for summary judgment. The Baig plaintiffs joined that motion. Presently before the Court are the Padberg and Baig plaintiffs' joint motion for summary judgment, defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment and the Baig plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. For the following reasons, plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part, defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part and the Baig plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is granted in part and denied in part.
This case focuses on the fallout from Operation Refusal — a widely publicized TLC initiative to combat racial bias among taxicab drivers in New York City. Since the inception of Operation Refusal in November 1999, the TLC has summarily suspended and revoked the licenses of several taxicab drivers accused of refusing service. All individual plaintiffs are taxicab drivers who have been disciplined under the policies of Operation Refusal, which they now challenge on several grounds.
The TLC possesses the authority to promulgate rules and regulations and to set standards of conduct within the taxi and limousine industry. New York City, N.Y., Charter ch. 65, § 2300 (1971) ("N.Y.C. Charter § ____"). The TLC is comprised of nine members, one of whom is appointed by the Mayor to act as chairperson. N.Y.C. Charter § 2301(a) & (c). The purpose of the TLC is to develop and improve taxi and limousine service by adopting and establishing overall policy, and by establishing criteria and standards for driver safety, service, equipment safety and design, and conduct. N.Y.C. Charter § 2300. The Commission has the power and duty to regulate and supervise the vehicle for hire industry, including the issuance, revocation, and suspension of licenses of drivers, in order to ensure that the established standards and rules of conduct and service are followed. N.Y.C. Charter § 2303(b)(5). Exercising this authority, the TLC promulgates Taxi and Limousine Commission Rules ("TLC Rules"). N.Y.C. Charter § 2303(b)(11) to further these purposes. At issue in this case are, inter alia, TLC Rules specifying prohibited conduct for taxicab drivers, see, e.g., New York City, N.Y., Rules tit. 35, § 2-50 ("35 RCNY § ____") (prohibiting unjustified service refusals and specifying what constitutes a justified service refusal), the penalties drivers face for violations of such conduct rules, see, e.g., 35 RCNY § 2-87 (), and the procedures used to prosecute these offenders, see, e.g., 35 RCNY § 8-16 ().
Both the Administrative Code of the City of New York ("Administrative Code" or "Code") and the TLC Rules prohibit unjustified service refusals. New York City, N.Y., Admin.Code § 19-507(a) (1989) ("Admin. Code § ____"); 35 RCNY § 2-50. Service refusals refer to those instances where, by words or actions, drivers refuse service to a potential passenger. The prohibition on service refusals found in the Administrative Code does not define an "unjustified" service refusal, but § 2-50(e) of the TLC Rules fills this gap by providing eleven justifications for a service refusal.1
Both the Administrative Code and the TLC Rules provide "mandatory penalties" for service refusals. Admin.Code § 19-507; 35 RCNY § 2-87. Section 19-507(a) states that the TLC "shall fine any driver or suspend or revoke the driver's license of any driver, as provided in subdivision b of this section, who shall have been found in violation of [the prohibition against unjustified service refusals]." Admin.Code § 19-507(a). Section 19-507(b) specifies the penalties for one or more service refusals. Admin.Code § 19-507(b). For a first service refusal offense, a driver "shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than three hundred fifty dollars." Id. For a second offense within a twenty-four month period the driver "shall be fined not less than three hundred fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and the commission may suspend the driver's license of such driver for a period not to exceed thirty days." Id. Finally, for a third offense within a thirty-six month period, "the commission shall revoke the driver's license." Id.
Section 2-87 of the TLC Rules specifies the same penalties as § 19-507 of the Administrative Code. See 35 RCNY § 2-87(a)(1). Unlike § 19-507, however, § 2-87 states that "[n]othing contained herein shall limit or restrict any other authority the Commission may have to suspend or revoke a driver's license." Id. Similarly, § 2-88 of the TLC Rules states that, "[v]iolation of any of these rules [including § 2-50(b) regarding service refusals] may also lead to revocation or suspension of a taxicab driver's license and/or fines in excess of those set forth in the above §§ 2-86 and 2-87." 35 RCNY § 2-88. Section 19-507 of the Administrative Code does not contain any reference to a general authority given to the TLC to suspend or revoke driver's licenses. Nevertheless, in the same year that § 19-507 was enacted, the City Council also enacted § 19-505(1), which provides that "[t]he Commission may, after a hearing, suspend or revoke any driver's license ... for failure to comply with the commission's rules and regulations." Admin.Code § 19-505(1).
In November 1999, at the direction of Mayor Giuliani and Chairperson McGrath-McKechnie, the TLC instituted a heightened enforcement campaign targeting the long-standing problem of unjustified service refusals. This new policy, referred to as "Operation Refusal," followed the highly publicized service refusal complaint filed by the actor Danny Glover. Operation Refusal involved the adoption of two new policies. First, TLC Officers were required to summarily suspend the license of a driver charged with an unjustified service refusal ("summary suspension policy"). Second, due to the classification of service refusals as conduct against the public interest, drivers were subject to the penalties of suspension or revocation for first and second service refusal offenses ("suspension and revocation policy").
Operation Refusal grew out of a number of events in 1999. On May 26, 1999, a few months prior to the inception of Operation Refusal, the City Council enacted Local Law 20, which contained several amendments to Title 19 of the Administrative Code. One such amendment was the addition of § 19-512.1 to the Administrative Code, which provides that, "[t]he commission may, for good...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Small v. General Nutrition Companies, Inc.
...Circuit have interpreted Ragin in this way. See, e.g., Brown v. Stone, 66 F.Supp.2d 412, 426 (E.D.N.Y.1999); Padberg v. McGrath-McKechnie, 203 F.Supp.2d 261, 274 (E.D.N.Y.2002). At least one district court within the Second Circuit, however, has found that both Havens and Ragin limited to s......
-
TZ Manor, LLC v. Daines
...as they were not “oppressive” or “without any reasonable justification” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Padberg v. McGrath–McKechnie, 203 F.Supp.2d 261, 283–85 (E.D.N.Y.2002) (granting summary judgment against plaintiffs on substantive due process claim in challenge to policies of city......
-
Transport Workers Union v. New York City Transit
...away from other activities to investigate and challenge defendants' discriminatory housing practices); Padberg v. McGrath-McKechnie, 203 F.Supp.2d 261, 275 (E.D.N.Y.2002) (organization that represented drivers had standing where defending drivers subject to discipline under challenged city ......
-
Moskowitz v. Great Neck Union Free Sch. Dist.
... ... at 849, 118 ... S.Ct. at 1718, nor necessarily is conduct that violates state ... law, see Padberg v. McGrath-McKechnie , 203 F.Supp.2d ... 261, 283 (E.D.N.Y. 2002) ... In ... Smith v. Guilford Board of Education , 226 ... ...