| Matter of Black Car Assistance Corp. v City of NewYork |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 06988 [110 AD3d 618] |
| October 29, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Black Car Assistance Corporation et al.,Appellants, v City of New York et al., Respondents, and Metropolitan TaxicabBoard of Trade et al., Intervenor-Respondents. |
—[*1] Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Ronald E. Sternberg ofcounsel), for respondents. Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, New York (Richard D. Emery of counsel),for inervenor-respondents.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Huff, J.), entered April 26,2013, which denied the petition to enjoin the implementation of respondent Taxi andLimousine Commission's (TLC) 12-month pilot program to allow medallion cabs toarrange passenger pickups via smart phone applications (E-Hail Program), vacated thetemporary restraining order, and dismissed the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLRarticle 78, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Petitioners, entities that represent or have financial interests in businesses thatoperate black or livery cars, filed the instant petition for an order declaring the E-hailProgram null and void, arguing that respondent TLC exceeded its authority in adoptingthis program, that provisions of the program improperly depart from applicableprovisions of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, and that the programwas adopted without complying with procedures required to change rules pursuant to theNew York City Administrative Procedure Act (CAPA) (New York City Charter ch 45)and in violation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) (ECL art 8).Contrary to petitioners' arguments, the E-Hail Program complies with the plain languageof New York City Charter § 2303 (b) (9), as it was adopted for the "limitedpurpose[ ]" of studying the feasability of using smart phone application to hail medalliontaxis and for the "limited . . . time" of 12 months. Additionally, the programcomplies with Administrative Code § 19-511 (a) requiring the licensing ofcommunications systems upon such terms as TLC deems advisable by giving TLC [*2]the authority to issue temporary authorizations for thecommunications systems needed to accept passenger hails electronically, as thoseauthorizations function as temporary, limited licenses appropriate for a pilot program.
Further, we find that to the extent the E-Hail Program allows drivers to ignoreelectronic hail requests or to cancel previously accepted requests in favor of street hails,this does not violate Administrative Code § 19-507 (a) (2), which prohibits driversfrom refusing, "without justifiable grounds, to take any passenger or prospectivepassenger to any destination within the city." We also find that the program was properlyadopted, is not in violation of SEQRA and, as a temporary and voluntary pilot program,is not subject to CAPA procedural requirements. Concur—Friedman, J.P.,Sweeny, Richter and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ. [Prior Case History: 2013 NY Slip Op30824(U).]