New York Cabbies Win $140 Million Settlement After 18-Year Lawsuit

The City of New York has agreed to pay some 19,000 taxi drivers as much as $140 million in settlement of an 18-year-long civil rights lawsuit. The cabbies proved that the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) had for years summarily suspended the drivers’ licenses, solely because of the drivers’ arrests—not convictions, just arrests—usually on misdemeanor charges. The drivers were theoretically permitted post-suspension hearings to gain reinstatement. But in actual fact, no driver was ever reinstated through the hearing process, leading a federal appeals court to hold that the hearings were essentially shams that denied the cabbies due process of law.

The case, titled Nnebe v. Daus, was first filed in 2006 by Dan Ackman, a Manhattan lawyer with a history of successful battles against the TLC. Ackman was later joined by David T. Goldberg, a Brooklyn-based appeals specialist. Ackman and Goldberg were joined at different times by Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston-based lawyer. The final agreement was submitted to the court on March 14th.

The case challenged the TLC’s practice of suspending drivers who were arrested, mostly for off-duty conduct. In most cases, the charges were ultimately dismissed, but not until the drivers were forced out of work for months.

The settlement, which requires perhaps the largest due process payout in the City’s history, must still be approved by Judge Richard J. Sullivan, a federal appeals court judge. Years earlier, Judge Sullivan, then a trial judge, permitted both the suspensions and the hearing practices.

To prevail, the drivers also had to win two trials and appeals. The most recent was a 2023 jury trial on behalf of 10 drivers selected at random. The jury found that all 10 drivers would have been reinstated had a fair hearing been available, awarding the drivers an average of more than $20,000 each.

“I have never wavered in my belief in the justice of this case or in my belief that the courts would ultimately agree,” Ackman said. “It’s sad that the City dragged it on for so long. This case could and should have been decided or settled a decade ago, if not sooner. Lawsuits should not be old enough to go to college.”

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Joshua M. Peck

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Joshua Peck Legal Communications

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