NYC Street Hail Excessive Fines Litigation (Miller v. City of New York)
On January 5, 2023, four New York City residents filed a federal class action lawsuit exposing the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC)’s practice of targeting thousands of people of color in undercover sting operations to pad its coffers. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four people of color who were dropping off family members or rideshare passengers at JFK or LaGuardia Airport and a proposed class of thousands of similarly situated people.
The plaintiffs allege that they were targeted by undercover TLC officers who aggressively solicited rides for money by appearing to be desperate travelers in need of rides from the airport. These TLC officers then issued them TLC summonses for allegedly violating the City law that prohibits unlicensed street hails, even when plaintiffs repeatedly declined to give a ride to the officer or accept any money. These street hail law violations carry a minimum penalty of $1,500. Based on the TLC’s own data, the City has collected millions of dollars from drivers the TLC has targeted in these sting operations. The lawsuit alleges that TLC officers routinely use tactics to manufacture violations of the City’s street hail law, including by begging and badgering drivers to give them rides and appealing to drivers’ sympathy for members of similar immigrant or ethnic communities.
In an amended complaint filed on May 17, 2023, the plaintiffs alleged that the TLC has selectively targeted people of color when enforcing the Street Hail Law, and that an estimated 86.5% of the tickets issued through the TLC’s undercover operations at JFK and LaGuardia Airports were given to people of color, even though people of color are estimated to be only 56% of the people dropping off passengers at those airports. In contrast, white drivers received an estimated 13.5% of the tickets, even though white drivers are estimated to be 44% of people dropping off passengers at those airports.
The lawsuit alleges that the TLC’s selective enforcement of the Street Hail Law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the $1,500 civil penalties for Street Hail Law infractions violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines.
The suit seeks to certify two classes of people: (1) an Excessive Fines Class of all people who on or after January 5, 2020 received a street hail law summons through an undercover operation and paid the full penalty or settled with the TLC for at least $200; and (2) an Equal Protection Class of all non-white or Hispanic people who on or after June 21, 2012 received a street hail law summons through an undercover operation and have had or will have a fine imposed on them.
The plaintiff and putative class are represented by PRF Law, Mobilization for Justice, a nonprofit legal services organization with offices in Manhattan and the Bronx, and two other public interest law firms, Pollock Cohen LLP and Gupta Wessler PLLC.
The case is known as Miller v. City of New York, No. 23 Civ. 0065 (E.D.N.Y.), and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Case Documents
Media
Katie Honan, Of Drivers Targeted by TLC Airport Stings, 86% Are Nonwhite, Lawsuit Claims, The City (Aug. 24, 2023).
Bahar Ostadan, Undercover investigators entrap people of color through illegal cabs crackdown at NYC airports: lawsuit, Gothamist
