New handicapped taxi company sues city

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

With little fanfare and even less surprise, a new taxi cab company has sued the city, alleging its taxi licensing regulations put the company out of business before it could pick up its first passenger.

The suit, filed by ADA Twenty-Four Hours Plus, LLC, a new cab company owned by local attorney Richard Klitineck, alleges the city violated state antitrust laws by creating new regulations that only allow existing, licensed taxi companies to offer handicapped-accessible cabs that can be hailed on the street and do not require a pick-up reservation.

“The existing vehicle-for-hire licenses, permits and agreements protect the existing licensees from competition and create monopoly power,” according to the lawsuit, filed by attorney Ralf Brookes. “The exclusive agreements with existing licensees resulted in the exclusion of plaintiff from the market.”

The lawsuit, filed May 9, asks that the new Key West handicapped taxi regulation be declared unconstitutional and that ADA Twenty-Four Hours Plus be granted its request for nine new taxi permits. It also requests an undisclosed amount of damages and attorney’s fees.

City commissioners were put on notice in May that ADA Twenty-Four Hours Plus would likely sue them over their decision on April 11 to allow only existing licensed taxi companies to convert one of their cabs into a handicapped-accessible vehicle. That decision came after a debate last December over whether to allow another existing cab company, Five 6’s, to convert two of its Contract Vehicle For Hire (CVH) licenses into regular vehicle for hire taxi licenses.

A CVH license covers passenger vans that normally require 24-hour notice before a scheduled pickup and are often employed by wheelchair users. Vehicle For Hire (VFH) licenses cover regular taxi cabs. Five 6’s owners reportedly said that while the demand for their CVH vehicles was high, many of their customers want more immediate, unscheduled service but still need the handicapped accessibility.

After protests from competing cab companies, city commissioners settled the issue by denying Five 6’s license conversion but agreed to let all current taxi companies operating in Key West to convert one of their standard cab licenses to allow an ADA-accessible vehicle to be on the streets full-time, rather than by reservation only. But that shut out newly-created transportation companies looking to enter the competitive market.

ADA Twenty-Four Hours Plus applied the next day for nine handicapped VFH permits, acknowledging that it was a new company without existing taxi licenses. After reviewing the application, Chief Licensing Official Carolyn Walker denied the request, a move that was upheld by commissioners in April after Brookes made an administrative appeal of that decision. The administrative appeal was a necessary procedural remedy that takes a potential step towards formally suing the commissioners.

The lawsuit says the city has a history of passing anticompetitive regulations and refers to one antitrust suit the city lost, this one involving “duck boat” amphibious vehicle tours.

When CityView Trolley Tours of Key West first attempted to win a duck boat franchise, it was stopped by the city and Historic Tours of America, which had already won a duck franchise in addition to operating the Old Town Trolley and Conch Tour Train in Key West. A lawsuit filed by the former owner of CityView, John Murphy, alleged that HTA and the city forced his Seafari Duck Tours out of business in 1995 because of an exclusive sightseeing franchise agreement the city had with HTA.

The courts ruled that agreement violated antitrust laws, resulting in an undisclosed settlement between HTA and Seafari Duck Tours. Key West followed with its own $8 million settlement in April 2010 and in January 2013, city commissioners approved the Duck Tours Seafari franchise agreement.

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