Virgin Islands Taxi Ass'n v. Virgin Islands Port Authority

36 V.I. 43, 1997 V.I. LEXIS 5
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedMarch 10, 1997
DocketCiv. No. 117/97
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 36 V.I. 43 (Virgin Islands Taxi Ass'n v. Virgin Islands Port Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Virgin Islands Taxi Ass'n v. Virgin Islands Port Authority, 36 V.I. 43, 1997 V.I. LEXIS 5 (virginislands 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The Plaintiff, V. I. Taxi Association, Inc., asks the Court to enter a preliminary injunction which would (1) prohibit Defendants Freddy Lettsome, East End Taxi Services, Inc., Ritz Carlton Virgin Islands, Inc., and Caneel Bay Resort and all others similarly situated from violating its exclusive franchise granted in Act. No. 5231 to provide all ground transportation for persons departing from the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, except as specifically provided in Section 1(e); and (2) require that the Defendant V. I. Port Authority be restrained, enjoined and prohibited from permitting and facilitating others from operating any type of public [45]*45taxicab service from the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas. At the center of this dispute is the constitutionality of the Act. This Court holds that Act No. 5231 is constitutional. Since the Plaintiff has fulfilled all the requirements necessary for the issuance of a preliminary injunction, the Court will enter the requested order.

FACTS

The Virgin Island Taxi Association, Inc. ("Taxi Association") is an association of approximately 600 taxi drivers on St. Thomas and St. John. On December 29, 1986, the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, through Act No. 5231, granted it an exclusive franchise to transport all persons from the Cyril E. King Airport's ("airport") terminal except those provided in Section 1(e). The four exceptions are as follows:

persons departing from the terminal area by foot; by a privately owned motor vehicle where no fee is charged; by a motor vehicle furnished by a concessionaire of a motor vehicle rental (drive yourself) business at the terminal facility; or by a motor vehicle owned, operated or utilized by a tour agent in the transportation of passengers traveling on a prepaid or packaged tour, which has a minimum price of $ 50 and includes either lodging or transportation on an ocean common carrier; provided that transportation from the terminal facility is part of the overall transportation arranged for in the prepaid or packaged tour.

1986 V.I. Sess. Laws 5231.

Shortly after the Act was adopted, the Taxi Association and the Virgin Islands Port Authority ("Port Authority") entered into a Taxi Concession Agreement on June 30,1987, which established the annual and monthly fees that the Taxi Association was required to pay. Today, the franchise fee is $ 2,527.17 per month, or $ 30,326.00 annually. This franchise fee is adjusted every four years and is up for renegotiation this year. In no event, though, is the annual fee to be less than $ 22,500.00, plus any change in the Consumer Price Index.

Upon granting the exclusive franchise, and as part of the Act, the Legislature placed numerous costly requirements that the Taxi [46]*46Association had to fulfill in order to maintain this franchise and to ensure that the public's needs for transportation were met. The following are just a few of them.

First, Section l(p) requires that it must carry and maintain public liability insurance coverage of not less than $ 250,000.00 for any one person and $ 1,000,000.00 for one accident, with the Port Authority named as the loss payee. The Taxi Association has always had this coverage, and the cost currently is $ 2,500.00 per month. Additionally, all of its drivers must carry public liability insurance coverage "of not less than $ 10,000 for any one person, $ 20,000 for any one accident and $ 10,000 for property damage in any one accident."

Second, under Sections l(q) and (t), the Taxi Association must provide, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., seven days a week, not less than forty licensed taxicabs at the terminal. This requirement is to ensure that all regularly scheduled and unscheduled flights could be serviced continually and without interruption and "as the public convenience may require". In fact, Section l(q) established that the Taxi Association could be fined if it did not provide "prompt accommodation to any person seeking transportation." And, third, Sections 1(g) and (i) provide that the Taxi Association maintain an "office room" and desk space for its traffic manager.

The Taxi Association has employed two dispatchers and had a direct telephone line installed to its office at the airport. It has diligently met, year after year, the numerous rules and regulations imposed on it by both the Legislature and the Port Authority. The total annual expense for operating at the airport is $ 67,000.00.

Being authorized to transport what was envisioned to be a large number of persons daily, the Taxi Association obviously believed that it would receive sufficient income to make the venture profitable. On the contrary, what has been happening for many months is an erosion of this franchise resulting in incalculable losses to it. Open solicitation of travelers at the terminal area by taxi drivers not affiliated with the Taxi Association as well as other taxi drivers picking up guests of hotels and various similar entities have occurred on a daily basis.

Defendant Caneel Bay Resort ("Caneel Bay") is a luxury resort on St. John. It contracts with two taxi drivers to pick up its guests [47]*47at the airport and either transport them to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront to take its ferry to St. John or to the Red Hook dock. These taxi drivers are not members of the Taxi Association. It charges each guest $ 50.00 for the transportation and then pays the drivers directly. The guest is free to arrange separately for his own transportation, and if he does so, Caneel Bay does not charge the $ 50.00 fee.

Defendant Ritz Carlton Virgin Islands, Inc. ("Ritz Carlton") is a luxury resort on St. Thomas located on the eastern portion of the island. It, too, usually contracts with a specific taxicab company to provide transportation for its guests from the airport to its facility. This company, however, is not a member of the Taxi Association. As with Caneel Bay, the Ritz Carlton often pays the company directly but it factors in the cost of the transportation in the overall price of the room. There have been many instances, though, in which the Ritz Carlton's representative at the airport has openly solicited the hotel's guests in the terminal area and arranged right there transportation with other non-Taxi Association members. In fact, these guests have ultimately paid a higher price for the transportation than if they had been transported by a member of the Taxi Association.1

Windspree Vacation Homes, a management company operated by Ms. Susan Fredrickson, manages nineteen rental villas located on St. John and is a member of the intervenor St. Thomas and St. John Hotel Association, Inc. ("Hotel Association"). It directly arranges transportation for its guests with Defendant Freddy Lettsome ("Lettsome"). Ms. Fredrickson contacts Lettsome, who is a member of and manages a portion of the taxi services for Defendant East End Taxi Services, Inc. ("East End Taxi"), and gives • him the name of the guest. Lettsome arranges for one of East End's taxi drivers to pick up the guest at the airport. The driver arrives at the airport with the name and flight information of the guest, and identifies himself to the guest by carrying a sign with the [48]*48guest's name. The guest is then transported to the Red Hook dock and pays the taxi driver directly.

Lettsome provides similar ground transportation from the airport to the Red Hook dock for guests of other vacation rental units and resorts on St. John.

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Related

Virgin Islands Taxi Ass'n v. Virgin Islands Port Authority
67 V.I. 643 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Harland v. Gore
41 V.I. 12 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 1999)
Dennie v. Virgin Islands Port Authority
61 V.I. 3 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
36 V.I. 43, 1997 V.I. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/virgin-islands-taxi-assn-v-virgin-islands-port-authority-virginislands-1997.