Padberg v. Mcgrath-Mckechnie
| Decision Date | 14 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 00 CV 3355.,00 CV 3355. |
| Citation | 108 F.Supp.2d 177 |
| 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. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Daniel L. Ackman, Brad E. Mazarin, New York City, for plaintiffs.
Jerald Horowitz, Assistant Corporation Counsel, New York City, for defendants.
Plaintiffs John Padberg ("Padberg"), Clifford Paolillo ("Paolillo") and Rashid Ahmed ("Ahmed") bring this motion on behalf of themselves and a putative class of taxicab drivers, seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendant New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission ("TLC") from revoking Paolillo's and Ahmed's licenses, and directing TLC to reinstate Padberg's license. For the reasons set forth below, plaintiffs' motion is denied.
This case stems from TLC's highly publicized initiative aimed at eradicating racial bias from New York City's fleet of licensed taxicab drivers. Since November 1999, TLC has attempted to achieve the worthy objectives of removing from the streets any taxicab driver found to have refused service for racially motivated reasons, and deterring other drivers from engaging in similar, racially-based refusals. In pursuing these goals, TLC has imposed summary suspensions and severe penalties on many New York City taxicab drivers, including the three plaintiffs in this case, who now challenge TLC's procedures. As neither plaintiffs nor TLC sought the opportunity to present testimony or other evidence, the facts of this case are set forth below as they have been discerned from the parties' papers and from oral argument.
In 1996, TLC initiated Operation Refusal, a program to enforce its rules against all kinds of service refusals. As set forth in the § 2-50(b) of the Taxicab Drivers Rules, "[a] driver shall not refuse by words, gestures or any other means ... to take any passenger to any destination within the City of New York, the counties of Westchester or Nassau or Newark Airport." 35 RCNY § 2-50(b). However, numerous complaints indicating pervasive non-compliance with this provision led to the development of Operation Refusal, which relies on undercover police officers and TLC agents who pose as prospective passengers attempting to hail taxicabs. These agents issue summonses to any driver who does not stop in response to their hails, or who refuses to take them to any requested destination as required by § 2-50(b).
Sections 2-86 through 2-88 of the Taxicab Drivers Rules set forth the penalties for violations of TLC rules. Section 2-87(a)(1) lists the mandatory penalties for service refusals: a first offense "shall be fined not less than $200.00 nor more than $350.00"; a second offense within two years "shall be fined not less than $350.00 nor more than $500.00," with the possibility, at the TLC Chairperson's discretion, of a suspension not to exceed thirty days; and a third offense within three years will result in the revocation of the taxicab driver's license. 35 RCNY § 2-87(a)(1).
Discretionary penalties may also be imposed for service refusal. After listing the mandatory penalties, § 2-87(a)(1) goes on to state that "[n]othing contained herein shall limit or restrict any other authority the Commission may have to suspend or revoke a driver's license." Similarly, § 2-88, provides that
[v]iolation of any of these rules [including § 2-50(b)] 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 rules 2-86 and 2-87, as provided in the "Procedures In The Event Of A Violation Of Commission Rules."
35 RCNY § 2-88. These procedures were described in the former § 2-85, which was repealed on December 31, 1999, and which stated that [i]n addition to the mandatory revocation provided for violation [of § 2-50(b), et al.,] the Commission may institute proceedings to revoke a taxicab driver's license for violation of any of these rules when in the determination of the Commission such a proceeding is warranted.
35 RCNY § 2-85(h) (repealed 1999). Sub-section (h) also specified that under these circumstances, special hearings would be held before administrative law judges ("ALJ"s) of the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings ("OATH").
On January 1, 2000, Title 35, § 8 of the Rules of the City of New York, which deals with adjudications, was amended to include some of the substance of the former § 2-85 (the "2000 Amendments"). Although § 8-03(b), unlike § 2-85, makes no specific reference to service refusal or § 2-50(b), it generally provides that "[i]n the alternative to any specific penalties set forth in the Commission Rules, the Commission may, in its discretion, impose a penalty of license revocation, license suspension of up to six (6) months and/or a fine ..." 35 RCNY § 8-03(b). Additionally, the 2000 Amendments made some changes to the adjudicative hearing process. While the former § 2-85(h) had required all discretionary revocation hearings to be held before OATH ALJs, § 8-14(b) requires OATH ALJs to hear only those cases in which "the Commission seeks the penalty of revocation for a rule violation not providing for discretionary or mandatory revocation as a penalty," pursuant to § 8-03(b). 35 RCNY § 8-14(b). All other revocation hearings may be heard by ALJs from TLC's own Adjudications Tribunal. See id.
The 2000 Amendments to the TLC rules were apparently intended to implement TLC's decision, made several months earlier, to crack down on service refusals motivated by racial bias. On November 11, 1999, defendant Diane McGrath-McKechnie ("McGrath-McKechnie"), Chairperson of TLC, declared racially-motivated service refusals to be actions against the public health, safety and welfare, thereby invoking her emergency authority, pursuant to the former § 2-85(i) (repealed 1999) (now recodified as 35 RCNY § 8-16(a)) to "order the summary suspension of [taxicab drivers' licenses], pending revocation proceedings." (Mazer Aff. ¶ 7.)
Following this public announcement, TLC agents began to implement a newly invigorated Operation Refusal. They began to issue summonses to drivers charged with service refusals for violating, not only § 2-50(b), but also § 2-61(a)(2), which prohibits "any willful act of omission or commission which is against the best interests of the public." 35 RCNY § 2-61(a)(2). As set forth in § 2-86, this provision carries with it the penalties of a $150-$350 fine and/or a suspension of up to thirty days, or revocation. Furthermore, TLC agents began to summarily suspend the licenses of these drivers, and to confiscate their cars for safekeeping, pending retrieval by drivers holding valid TLC licenses.
The TLC agents execute the summary suspensions on the spot, according the taxicab drivers no prior notice or opportunity to be heard. TLC rules do provide for prompt post-suspension hearings. The exact nature of these hearings, however, is the subject of some confusion. Section 816(b) of the TLC rules states that proceedings for license revocation "shall be initiated within five (5) calendar days of the summary suspension." 35 RCNY § 8-16(b). These proceedings presumably include a full hearing on the merits before an ALJ, and finally determine whether a driver's license will be revoked. But Section 8-16(c) describes an alternative procedure, in which a taxicab driver can challenge the actual suspension, by requesting a hearing within five days of its occurrence. See 35 RCNY § 8-16(c). This "summary suspension hearing" takes place within ten days of the driver's request, see id., and is conducted by an ALJ instructed to consider "relevant evidence and testimony under oath," 35 RCNY § 8-16(d). What the "relevant evidence" consists of is not defined in this section, although at oral argument before the Court on June 29, 2000, counsel for TLC acknowledged that at a "summary suspension hearing," the ALJ does little more than check that the summons was issued properly, and review the taxicab driver's record for prior violations. (Tr. at 9, 16.) Additionally, while § 8-16(d) permits the presentation of affirmative defenses set forth in New York City Administrative Code § 19-512.1, namely that the driver did not know or have reason to know of the acts on which the suspension is based, plaintiffs allege that they were not allowed to offer any evidence at their "summary suspension hearings."
Like the nature of the hearings, the duration of the summary suspension is also unclear. Section 8-16(f) provides that following a "summary suspension hearing," the TLC Chairperson has sixty days to decide whether to uphold the summary suspension. If the Chairperson does not render a decision, then the suspension is lifted until such time as she does. See 35 RCNY § 8-16(f). However, in the event that the Chairperson upholds the suspension, § 8-16 is silent as to how long the suspension may continue while the taxicab driver awaits his revocation hearing, or how long it may persist following a revocation hearing, pending the Chairperson's decision whether to revoke the driver's license.
In the context of Operation Refusal and its complex regulatory scheme, TLC summarily suspended plaintiffs Ahmed's and Padberg's licenses.1 The facts of their individual cases are set forth briefly below.2
On December 2, 1999, Ahmed asked a prospective fare where he was going, even though he had already illuminated his "off duty" light. The passenger told Ahmed his destination, and Ahmed refused to take him. The passenger, a New York City police officer who was working undercover as part of...
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