Malden Transp., Inc. v. Uber Techs., Inc.

386 F. Supp. 3d 96
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided July 3, 2019·No. Civil Action No. 16-12538-NMG; consolidated with: 16-12651-NMG; 17-10142-NMG; 17-10180-NMG; 17-10316-NMG; 17-10598-NMG; 17-10586-NMG·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Nathaniel M. Gorton, United States District Judge

This case involves a suit by taxi medallion holders ("the Anoush plaintiffs" or "plaintiffs") in the Greater Boston area who allege that Uber Technologies, Inc. and Raiser, LLC (collectively "Uber" or "defendants") competed unlawfully and unfairly in the on-demand, ride-hail ground transportation market in and around Boston, Massachusetts.

I. Background

A. Regulatory Background

The City of Boston has traditionally regulated taxis under a set of municipal rules, ordinances and regulations ("Taxi Rules"), for which the Police Commissioner has the exclusive authority to regulate hackney carriages and hackney stands. In 2008, the Boston Police Department ("BPD") issued the Hackney Carriage Rules and Flat Rate Handbook ("Rule 403"), which regulates hackney carriage fares, medallions and hackney licenses, among other things. Rule 403 also incorporates a previously promulgated Vehicle for Hire Ordinance ("the Boston Ordinance"), which provides in relevant part:

no person, firm, or corporation driving or having charge of a taxicab or other private vehicle shall offer the vehicle for hire for the purposes of transporting, soliciting and/or picking up a passenger or passengers unless said person is licensed as a hackney driver and said vehicle is licensed as a hackney carriage by the Police Commissioner.

City of Boston Code 16-15.05: Vehicle for Hire Ordinance; see also Appendix I to Rule 403. The Hackney Department of the BPD is largely charged with implementing these Taxi Rules.

B. Factual Background

In June, 2013, following separate conversations between Uber management and the Hackney Department on the one hand, and Uber and senior staff in the Mayor's office on the other, Uber launched its own peer-to-peer ("P2P") application, UberX. With respect to UberX, Uber did not require its drivers to comply with Rule 403 or the Boston Ordinance because its management believed that the Taxi Rules applied only to taxi cabs, not transportation *99network companies ("TNCs") such as Uber.

Shortly thereafter, uniformed officers began ticketing Uber drivers for violating a variety of municipal and state regulations, including the Boston Ordinance. From roughly July, 2013, to January, 2015, Uber acknowledged hundreds of police citations issued to UberX drivers. Although some drivers successfully challenged those tickets in court, Uber routinely reimbursed all other charged drivers. During this same time period, while Uber reimbursed its drivers for the cost of tickets, the Mayor's office made somewhat contradictory statements suggesting that the Taxi Rules did not apply to TNCs.

This regulatory uncertainty persisted until August, 2016, when the Massachusetts legislature enacted the Transportation Network Companies Act ("the TNC Act"). See M.G.L. c. 159A ½. The TNC Act preempts municipalities from regulating TNCs through local municipal rules and vests regulatory jurisdiction in the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and the Massachusetts Port Authority. See id. at § 10.

Following this Court's order which allowed, in part, and denied, in part, defendants' motion to dismiss (Docket No. 96), the parties submitted cross motions for summary judgment with respect to plaintiffs' claims for unfair competition from June, 2013, to August, 2016 ("the alleged unlawful conduct period"). Plaintiffs have moved for partial summary judgment on their claim of liability (under Chapter 93A and common law) and defendants' § 3 and superseding cause defenses. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on plaintiffs' claim of liability (under Chapter 93A and common law) and on its res judicata and § 3 defenses.

For the reasons set forth below, both parties' motions will be denied (with the exception of plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on defendants' § 3 defense) and the Court will promptly convene a bench trial in accordance with this opinion.1

II. Legal Analysis

A. Legal Standard

The role of summary judgment is to assess the proof in order to see whether there is a genuine need for trial. Mesnick v. Gen. Elec. Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir. 1991). The burden is on the moving party to show, through the pleadings, discovery and affidavits, that there is "no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law". FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a). A fact is material if it "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law". Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A genuine issue of material fact exists where the evidence with respect to the material fact in dispute "is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party". Id.

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Malden Transp., Inc. v. Uber Techs., Inc., 386 F. Supp. 3d 96 (D.D.C. 2019).

386 F. Supp. 3d 96 (Malden Transp., Inc. v. Uber Techs., Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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