Ricketts v. City of New York

181 Misc. 2d 838, 688 N.Y.S.2d 418, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 133
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 181 Misc. 2d 838 (Ricketts v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ricketts v. City of New York, 181 Misc. 2d 838, 688 N.Y.S.2d 418, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 133 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Louis B. York, J.

This is an action seeking to nullify local legislation giving the City of New York authority for the granting of franchises for the operation of commuter van services in the City of New York. For a brief history of the development of commuter van services in New York City and the legislation granting the City of New York authority over the operation see the decision in Giuliani v Council of City of N. Y. (181 Misc 2d 830) decided this day.

Plaintiffs are operators of existing commuter services who have been denied their requests to expand operations or are seeking to obtain authorizations for a new commuter van service and the organization representing the interests of commuter van operators.

In this action, which raises several Federal and State constitutional claims, the plaintiffs seek summary judgment on the third and fourth causes of action. The City Council cross-moves for partial summary judgment dismissing the first, second, third and fourth causes of action. The other City defendants also cross-move for partial summary judgment against the first through fourth causes of action.

The first cause of action alleges a denial of due process against all defendants in that the State and local legislation prohibits community vans from operating on bus routes and prohibits the picking up of customers except by prearrangement. The second cause of action alleges a violation of constitutional rights by allowing the applications for commuter van services to be denied without an explanation or a record for review or merely not responding to the application within 180 days, all of which, once again allege plaintiffs, amount to a deprivation of the plaintiffs’ right to earn a living. The third cause of action directed against the City defendants seeks to nullify Local Laws, 1993, No. 115 of the City of New York. It claims that this legislation, which does not provide for the per[841]*841manent authorizations accorded by the State to existing commuter van services (the grandfather authorizations), is therefore invalid as inconsistent with State law and deprives the owners of these operating services of their constitutional right to liberty by depriving them of the right to earn a living. In addition, they argue that the State enabling legislation transferring regulatory authority from a mayoral designated agency is violated by Local Law No. 115 which gives the final authority of approval to the City Council, a local legislative body rather than a City agency. The plaintiffs also claim that the local law does not guarantee that the approval process will be completed within 180 days as is required by the enabling act (Transportation Law § 80 [5] [a] [1]). The fourth cause of action against the City defendants is directed against Local Laws, 1997, No. 83 of the City of New York imposing a moratorium on the granting of new applications. That law has expired and has not been renewed. Therefore, this branch of the motion is denied as moot.

The part of the third cause of action directed against the provision requiring that any decision by the Taxi and Limousine Commission involving approval of an application to establish or extend a franchise is subject to approval by the City Council has been nullified by the decision in Giuliani v Council of City of N. Y. (supra). The City defendants in this action had a full and fair opportunity to litigate this issue. They are estopped from relitigating it in this action. (B. R. DeWitt, Inc. v Hall, 19 NY2d 141 [1967].) The remaining issues boil down to (1) whether the grandfather authorization in the local law should be struck down because it is inconsistent with the permanent status that was granted under the State law and deprives the plaintiffs of their constitutional right to earn a living; and (2) whether the local law, by allowing a failure to make a decision of a request by a franchise within 180 days is a denial of an application, is inconsistent with the State law requirement of a decision within 180 days; and (3) whether the entire local law must fall because its invalid provisions cannot be severed from the rest of the statute.

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Related

Town of New Hartford v. Village of New Hartford
6 Misc. 3d 411 (New York Supreme Court, 2004)
Giuliani v. Council of New York
181 Misc. 2d 830 (New York Supreme Court, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 Misc. 2d 838, 688 N.Y.S.2d 418, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ricketts-v-city-of-new-york-nysupct-1999.