Joshua Neuman, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. Blue Jay Transit Inc. d/b/a Bird; Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC D/B/A Bird; Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime; Veoride, Inc. D/B/A VEO; and City of New York

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 10, 2026
Docket1:24-cv-07430
StatusUnknown

This text of Joshua Neuman, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. Blue Jay Transit Inc. d/b/a Bird; Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC D/B/A Bird; Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime; Veoride, Inc. D/B/A VEO; and City of New York (Joshua Neuman, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. Blue Jay Transit Inc. d/b/a Bird; Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC D/B/A Bird; Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime; Veoride, Inc. D/B/A VEO; and City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Joshua Neuman, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. Blue Jay Transit Inc. d/b/a Bird; Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC D/B/A Bird; Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime; Veoride, Inc. D/B/A VEO; and City of New York, (E.D.N.Y. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------------------------------- X : JOSHUA NEUMAN, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, : Plaintiff, : : MEMORANDUM DECISION AND – against – ORDER : 24-CV-7430 (AMD) (CHK) : BLUE JAY TRANSIT INC. d/b/a BIRD; : BLUE JAY TRANSIT USFM LLC D/B/A BIRD; NEUTRON HOLDINGS, INC. D/B/A LIME; : VEORIDE, INC. D/B/A VEO; and CITY OF NEW YORK, :

: Defendants. : --------------------------------------------------------------- X A NN M. DONNELLY, United States District Judge:

The plaintiff brings this class action against the defendants Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC

D/B/A Bird (“Bird”), Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime (“Lime”), VeoRide, Inc. D/B/A Veo

(“Veo”) (together, the “e-scooter defendants”), and the City of New York, alleging public nuisance in connection with shared electronic scooters in neighborhoods throughout New York

City. (ECF No. 14.) The defendants move to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). As explained below, the Court grants the motions.

BACKGROUN D

I. Factual Background

a. New York City’s E-Scooter Share Program In 2020, New York legalized throttle-based bicycles and e-scooters in the state. (ECF No. 14 ¶ 9.) In July 2020, the New York City Council passed Local Law 72, which authorized e- scooters in New York City, and Local Law 74, which directed the New York City Department of Transportation (“DOT”) to establish a pilot program with selected companies operating shared e- scooter systems. (Id. ¶¶ 10–11.) Local Law 74 provided that “[a]ny shared electric scooter organizations participating in such pilot program shall be required to have in place and implement a protocol to keep paths of travel, curb ramps, and other accessibility features

unobstructed for people with disabilities.” (Id. ¶ 13.) Local Law 74 required DOT to submit a report on the program’s progress before the end of the pilot program, and recommend a permanent shared e-scooter program, as well as suggest changes to the laws, regulations, and policies governing the use of e-scooters. (Id. ¶ 14.) In October 2020, DOT issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to identify and select companies to participate in the pilot program. (Id. ¶ 15.) DOT ultimately chose the e-scooter defendants. (Id. ¶ 15.) In August 2021, DOT launched the shared e-scooter pilot program in the East Bronx with 3,000 e-scooters. (Id. ¶¶ 16–17.) DOT expanded the program in June 2022 to more locations in the East Bronx and added an additional 6,000 e-scooters. (Id. ¶ 18.) The e-scooter defendants use a “pay-as-you-go model” — users pay $1.00 to unlock the scooter and an additional fee for

each minute of use. (Id. ¶ 19.) When the users are finished, they park the scooters in either mandatory corral zones or furniture zones. (Id. ¶¶ 24, 28.) Mandatory corral zones are typically placed in dense, commercial areas to minimize sidewalk clutter. (Id. ¶¶ 25–26.) The user parks the scooter in a designated parking corral. (Id.) During the pilot program, DOT installed 130 parking corrals in the East Bronx. (Id. ¶ 27.) In less dense neighborhoods, users can park scooters on the “furniture zone” of the sidewalk, where benches, bus stops, tree pits, and parking signs are typically located at the edge of the sidewalk, next to the roadbed. (Id. ¶¶ 28–29.) Users who park in the furniture zone cannot block pedestrian paths, curb cuts, or driveways, and cannot park on private property or the roadbed. (Id. ¶ 29.) The plaintiff alleges that the e-scooter defendants are responsible, under their agreement with DOT, for improperly parked scooters. (Id. ¶ 31.) The e-scooter defendants advise users about the parking rules through in-app training and community outreach events. (Id. ¶ 30.) The e-scooter defendants do not otherwise enforce the parking rules or monitor

whether users park the scooters correctly. (Id. ¶¶ 30, 32.) Nor do the e-scooter defendants penalize users who do not park properly. (Id.) Community members who see an improperly parked scooter call the e-scooter defendants’ customer service number, which is written on the scooters, or by using the Community Reporting Tool in the app or on the website. They can also call 311, the city’s non-emergency customer service and information line to report an improperly parked scooter. (Id. ¶ 33; see also ECF No. 25-1 at 8.) According to the plaintiff, this arrangement “leads to e-scooters being dumped in improper zones, in the street, and across the width of the sidewalk impeding the path for pedestrians, elderly, disabled, and others with limited mobility, for days or even weeks at a time, impeding the public’s access to clean and unobstructed streets and sidewalks, and putting

homeowners and business owners at risk of liability in the event that somebody trips or is otherwise injured by an e-scooter improperly parked in front of their property.” (ECF No. 14 ¶ 35.) The plaintiff also asserts that the people most affected by improperly parked scooters — the elderly, disabled, and people with limited mobility — are the least likely to know whom to call to fix the problem. (Id. ¶ 36.) The defendants do not find out about improperly parked scooters unless someone makes a report, and they “do not endeavor to make themselves aware of improperly parked e-scooters.” (Id. ¶ 37.) DOT received thousands of complaints during the pilot program; more than half of non-users’ complaints were about scooters “blocking the right of way.” (Id. ¶ 38.) In its final report on the pilot program, issued in November 2022, DOT found that in a single year, over 86,000 riders completed over 1,000,000 trips, with an average of over 2,800 trips per day. (Id. ¶¶ 20–21.)1 In addition, DOT reported that 24 percent of inspected scooters were parked improperly, and 10 percent blocked pedestrian pathways. (Id. ¶ 22.)2 In June 2023, DOT announced that it was expanding the e-scooter share service to 20

square miles in East Queens, affecting about 600,000 Queens residents. (Id. ¶ 40.) DOT launched the program in June 2024. (Id. ¶ 41.) From then until the plaintiff initiated this action, there were over 300,000 e-scooter users in Queens. (Id. ¶ 42.) Many users rode the scooters on the sidewalk, which was not permitted. Moreover, scooters “are constantly strewn about across the sidewalk obstructing the path of pedestrians, on people’s lawns, on private property, in the street where cars are supposed to park, and in the street where they pose a threat of injury to cars and pedestrians.” (Id. ¶¶ 44–45.) Politicians have “sp[oken] out about these e-scooters.” (Id. ¶ 47.) On August 15, 2024, New York City councilmember Sandra Ung expressed concerns about the program on Facebook. A resident posted the following comment: “Take them off the streets . . . truly very dangerous for pedestrians . . . especially older people.” (Id. ¶¶ 49–50.)

About a month later, councilmembers Ung and Lynn C. Schulman introduced legislation to ban the program in downtown Flushing and in other Queens locations. (Id. ¶ 48.) On October 7, 2024, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams wrote to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez “to express [her] profound concerns about the Department of Transportation’s implementation of its E-Scooter Share program in Southeast Queens, due to the impact it is

1 Since the launch of the pilot program in August 2021, until May 2024, there were approximately 3.8 million trips and more than 157,000 user accounts in the Bronx. (ECF No. 14 ¶ 39.) 2 According to the plaintiff, “[a]ssuming that the DOT inspections were a representative sample of the entirety of the program,” during the one-year period there were over 240,000 improperly parked scooters and 100,000 instances of e-scooters blocking pedestrian pathways. (Id.

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Joshua Neuman, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. Blue Jay Transit Inc. d/b/a Bird; Blue Jay Transit USFM LLC D/B/A Bird; Neutron Holdings, Inc. D/B/A Lime; Veoride, Inc. D/B/A VEO; and City of New York, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joshua-neuman-on-behalf-of-himself-and-all-others-similarly-situated-v-nyed-2026.