Choudhary M. AZAM, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TAXICAB COMMISSION, et al., Defendants.
Civil Action No. 13-1558(ESH)
United States District Court, District of Columbia.
Signed June 2, 2014
ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE, United States District Judge
fine manipulation with the upper extremities.” AR at 15. As the Court explained above, the ALJ‘s findings were supported by substantial evidence in the record, and the ALJ therefore did not err by failing to include the additional physical and mental limitations that Plaintiff now seeks. See Mickles v. Shalala, 29 F.3d 918, 929 n.7 (4th Cir.1994) (noting that “all of the exertional and non-exertional limitations which the ALJ found to exist ... were included in the hypothetical” and concluding that this was sufficient); Williams v. Shalala, 997 F.2d 1494, 1500 (D.C.Cir.1993) (concluding that the ALJ “did not err by failing to include in the hypotheticals [to the vocational expert] precise physical conditions whose existence rested solely on [the сlaimant‘s] subjective complaints“); Pinkney v. Astrue, 675 F.Supp.2d 9, 19 (D.D.C. 2009) (“[O]nly the impairments that the ALJ has found to be credible need to be discussed in the hypotheticals.“); Smith v. Sullivan, 733 F.Supp. 450, 452 (D.D.C. 1990) (“[T]he requirement ... is not that the ALJ recite all of the record evidence to the vocational expert but that the ALJ accurately describe the claimant‘s physical condition which is a finding of the ALJ.... Moreover, as a practical matter, a recitation of the claimant‘s various physical impairments is not going to be nearly as useful to the vocational expert as the ALJ‘s specific finding of what are the claimant‘s actual disabling limitations arising from the physical impairments.“). Becаuse the ALJ provided the vocational expert with accurate information regarding Plaintiff‘s mental and physical limitations, as properly determined by the ALJ in the residual functional capacity analysis, the ALJ‘s reliance on the expert‘s testimony was not erroneous.
VII. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff‘s Motion for Judgment of Reversal is denied, and Defendant‘s Motion for Judgment of Affirmance is granted. An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion is separately and contemporaneously issued.
Douglas Stuart Rosenbloom, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiffs, individuals who are either licensed to operate taxicabs in the District of Columbia or who utilize taxicabs as passengers, bring this action against Ronald Linton, Chairman of the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission, and the District of Columbia, challenging various regulations enacted by the Commission as violating the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA“),
BACKGROUND
In 2012, the D.C. Council enacted the Taxicab Service Improvement Amendment Act of 2012 (“Improvement Act“). 2012 District of Columbia Laws 19-184 (Act 19-437). One section of the Improvement Act addressed the “modernization of taxicabs” in the District, giving the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission1 “one year from October 22, 2012, to modernize the taxicab fleet and make vehicle and equipment improvements, including installation of meter systems that would accept non-cаsh payment of fares and electronically collect trip-sheet data through the use of GPS technology” and installation of “[u]niform cruising lights that clearly display a taxicab‘s identification number, as well as identify when a taxicab is occupied, on-call, off-duty, or available to accept a fare.” See
Pursuant to the Improvement Act, the Taxicab Commission issued implementing regulations, which, in relevant part, provide for the collection of a $0.25 passenger surcharge for each trip,
MTS Regulation
The MTS Regulation requires drivers to acquire an MTS from an approved “payment service provider” (“PSP“). The MTS includes a taximeter, a global positioning system, and a payment processing unit. The MTS is turned on when a driver begins a shift and turned off when the shift ends. When it is on, the MTS connects to the PSP, which then receives and procеsses payment information for each trip in real time. Through the PSP, the MTS is also connected to the Taxicab Commission‘s Taxicab Information System (“TCIS“).3 Every 24 hours, the MTS transmits data to the TCIS, including:
- The date;
- The operator identification (Face Card) number and PVIN, reported in a unique and anonymous manner allowing the PSP to maintain a retrievable record of the operator and vehicle;
- The name of the taxicab company, association, or fleet if applicable;
- The PSP-assigned tour ID number and time at beginning of tour of duty;
- The time and mileage of each trip;
- The time of pickup and drop-off of each trip;
- The geospatially-recorded place of pickup and drop-off of each trip which may be generalized to census tract level;
- The number of passengers;
- The unique trip number assigned by the PSP;
- The taximeter fare and an itemization of the rates and charges pursuant to § 801;
- The form of payment (cash payment, cashless payment, voucher, or digital payment), and, if a digital payment, the name of the DDS;
- The time at the end of each tour of duty.
Dome Light Regulation
The Dome Light Regulation requires drivers to install new “uniform” dome lights. These dome lights differ from prior lights in two material ways. First, instead of being operated by a manual switch, the dome light display is controlled by engaging the MTS. The dome light displays ““Taxi For Hire” at all times when the taxicab is available for hire” and goes
Six individuals who are licensed to operate taxicabs in the District of Columbia (Choudhary M. Azam, Tariq Mahmood, Waleed A. Mohammed, Ahmed Djebbour, Mohammed Akram, and Mohammed Saleem Syed) and two individuals who utilize District of Columbia taxicabs as passengers (Benjamin P. Stewart and Per Kristian Hoel) have filed a complaint against the District of Columbia alleging that the MTS Regulation violates the Fourth Amendment‘s protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures” and the Fifth Amendment‘s guarantee of equal protection and that the Dome Light Regulation violates the Title II of the ADA and the ADEA (Counts I-IV). The complaint also seeks to hold Linton individually liable for these violations (Counts V-VII) and to hold the District liable for negligence in failing to prevent the violations (Count VIII). Plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction. In response, defendants have opposed plaintiffs’ motion and have moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing4 and failure to state a claim, see
ANALYSIS
I. STATUTORY CLAIMS AGAINST THE DISTRICT
A. ADA (Count I)
Count I of plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that the Dome Light Regulation violates Title II of the ADA. Title II provides that “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.”
1. Standing
Defendants’ contention that plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the Dome Light Regulation as violating the ADA is without merit. “To establish constitutional standing, a plaintiff must show an injury in fact that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and that will likely be redressed by a favorable decision on the merits.” Muir v. Navy Fed. Credit Union, 529 F.3d 1100, 1105 (D.C.Cir.2008) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992)).7 “When the suit is one challenging the legality of government action or inaction, the nature and extent of facts that must [alleged] ... in order to establish standing depends considerably upon whether the plaintiff is himself an object of the action (оr forgone action) at issue. If he is, there is ordinarily little question that the action or inaction has caused him injury, and that a judgment preventing or requiring the action will redress it.” Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561-62. “The fundamental aspect of standing is that it focuses on the party seeking to get his complaint before a federal court and not on the issues he wishes to have adjudicated.” Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 99 (1968) Thus, “[i]n ‘reviewing the standing question, the court must be careful not to decide the questions on the merits for or against the plaintiff, and must therefore assume that on the merits the plaintiffs would be successful in their claims.‘” Muir, 529 F.3d at 1105 (quoting City of Waukesha v. EPA, 320 F.3d 228, 235 (D.C.Cir.2003)); see Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501 (1975); see also Louisiana Energy & Power Authority v. FERC, 141 F.3d 364, 367-68 (D.C.Cir.1998) (whether a statute has been violated “is a question that goes to the merits ... and not to constitutional standing,” because a “party need not prove that the ... action it attacks is unlawful ... in order to have standing to level that attack“).
Here, the complaint alleges injury (that “[t]he new dome light system creates a hazardous condition” for Syed and other drivers with disabilities), causation (the Dome Light Regulation is the reason all drivers have to install the new dome light system), and redressability (if the Dome Light Regulation violates the ADA, disabled drivers could not be required to install the new system). These arguably
2. Failure to State a Claim
Although the ADA count will not be dismissed for lack of standing, it will be dismissed for failure to state a claim. To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id., at 556. A pleading that offers “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. at 555. Nor will a сomplaint survive if it tenders “naked assertion [s]” devoid of “further factual enhancement.” Id., at 557.
To state a claim under Title II of the ADA, a plaintiff must allege: (1) that he is a “qualified individual with a disability“; (2) who “was either excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of a public entity‘s services, programs, or activities, or was otherwise discriminated against by the public entity“; and (3) that “such exclusion, denial of benefits, or discrimination was by reason of his disability.” Alston v. D.C., 561 F.Supp.2d 29, 37 (D.D.C.2008). The complaint alleges that plaintiff Syed has a “certified medical disability as a result of a brain hemorrhage and stroke he suffered”8 and that the new Dome Light system creates a “hazardous condition” for him and other drivers with disabilities. (2AC ¶¶ [ ]-[ ].) What the complaint fails to plausibly allege is that the Dome Light Regulation imposes a greater burden on Syed, or on any other driver with a disability, than it imposes on drivers without disabilities. For example, the complaint alleges that “[a]bsent the interior switch, those taxicab drivers who are not affiliated with a dispatch system can only activate or deactivate the “TAXI ON CALL” by physically exiting the vehicle and activate the switch on the exterior of the new dome light on the roof of the vehicle,” and that “[t]his must be done regardless of traffic conditions, weather conditions, or the conditions of the area of town where the driver is located when he or she must get out of his/her car,” but fails to allege why this burden would be any greater for plaintiff Syed, or any driver with a disability, than it is for drivers without disabilities. Similarly, the complaint alleges the lack of a Call 911 display option creates a hazardous condition because “[i]f a taxicab driver with a disability ... encounters a medical crisis or is a victim of a crime, the absence of call 911 sign places the taxicab driver ... and any passenger in danger,” but again the complaint does not allege any facts to suggest that this hazard would be greater for Syed and other drivers with disabilities than for drivers without disabilities. Without knowing the nature of Syed‘s or any other driver‘s disability, there is no factual basis for the conclusory allegation that the Dome Light Regulation is “particularly” hazardous for drivers with disabilities, and the complaint has not plausibly alleged
B. ADEA (Count IV)
Count IV of the complaint alleges that the Dome Light Regulation violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA“). Under the ADEA, it is “unlawful for an employer to ... discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual‘s age.”
1. Standing
The District‘s challenge to plaintiffs’ standing is again without merit. Plaintiffs allege that the Dome Light Regulation puts drivers over the age of forty at an unfair disadvantage and, if they were to prevail on their ADEA challenge to the Dome Light Regulation, that injury would be redressed. As previously noted, whether plaintiffs will prevail does not bear on their standing to bring a claim. Accordingly, just as with the ADA count, plaintiffs have adequately alleged the elements of Article III standing.
2. Failure to State a Claim
The ADEA count will, however, be dismissed for failure to state a claim. First, neither the District itself nor the Taxicab Commission qualifies as plaintiffs’ “employer” under the ADEA. See, e.g., Bonaby v. New York City Taxi & Limousine Comm‘n., No. 02-cv-5423, 2003 WL 21649453, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. July 14, 2003) (“The plain meaning and statutory definitions of “employer” ... in ... the ADEA indicate that those terms are not intended to apply to the type of licensing activity in which the New York City Tаxi & Limousine Commission engages.“) Second, the allegation that the Dome Light Regulation “places an undue burden” on drivers over the age of 40 without any indication of what that burden is or how it is linked to the drivers’ age fails to provide sufficient “factual content” to “allow the court to draw the reasonable inference” that the Dome Light Regulation violates the ADEA. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). Finally, the complaint does not allege that the taxicab drivers’ age was the “but-for” cause of the decision to enact the Dome Light Regulation. See Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc., 557 U.S. 167, 176 (2009) (“To establish a disparate-treatment claim under the plain language of the ADEA, therefore, a рlaintiff must prove that age was the “but-for” cause of the employer‘s adverse decision.“) Accordingly, plaintiffs’ have failed to plausibly allege that the Dome Light Regulation violates the ADEA.
II. CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS AGAINST THE DISTRICT
A. Equal Protection (Count III)
Count III challenges the MTS Regulation on equal protection grounds. It alleges that under the MTS Regulation (and related rules), licensed taxicab drivers are subjected to “draconian” requirements that impose greater burdens on them than are imposed on any other individual or
“The Equal Protection Clause protects against arbitrary and irrational classifications, and against invidious discrimination stemming from prejudice and hostility.” Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 245 (1982). Accordingly, courts apply “strict scrutiny when the challenged classification jeopardizes the exercise of a fundamental right or categorizes individuals on the basis of an inherently suspect characteristic such as race, alienage or national origin, see Banner v. United States, 428 F.3d 303, 307 (D.C.Cir.2005); Hunt v. Cromartie, 526 U.S. 541, 546 (1999), but “if a law neither burdens a fundamental right nor targets a suspect class,” it will be upheld “so long as it bears a rational relation to some legitimate end.” Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 631 (1996); Hettinga v. United States, 677 F.3d 471, 478 (D.C.Cir.2012) (“A statutory classification that ‘neither proceeds along suspect lines nor infringes fundamental constitutional rights must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could pro-
vide
Here, plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge is premised on the application of the strict scrutiny test. However, strict scrutiny will only be applied to a facially neutral law, if the law “has been applied differently on the basis of race, see Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 373-74 (1886), or if it is “in fact, motivated by discriminatory intent and has a racially discriminatory impact.” See Village of Arlington Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265-66 (1977); City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 113 (1980) (“a showing of discriminatory purpose is necessary to impose strict scrutiny on facially neutral classifications having a racially discriminatory impact“); Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339 (1960); Smith v. Henderson, No. 13-cv-420, 2013 WL 5592905 (D.D.C.2013); In re Navy Chaplaincy, 738 F.3d 425, 428 (D.C.Cir.2013) (“equal protection attack on facially neutral policy could prevail only if [plaintiffs] ... [could] prov[e] an intent to discriminate“); Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 242 (1976) (“Disproportionate impact is not irrelevant, but it is not the sole touchstone of an invidious racial discrimination forbidden by the Constitution. Standing alone, it does not trigger the rule that racial classifications are to be subjected to the strictest scrutiny and are justifiable only by the weightiest of considerations.“)
The regulations at issue are “facially neutral” and there is no suggestion that they have been discriminatorily applied. As for the third path to strict scrutiny, the complaint arguably alleges a racially disparate impact (by alleging that the requirements are unique to the taxicab industry and that the drivers are a “suspect class” because they are all either foreign born or African-American), but it fails to allege any basis upon which to infer a plausible inference of discriminatory intent could be drawn. The sole allegation pertaining to intent is that the regulation “intentionally targets” licensed taxicab drivers. But the same could presumably be alleged as to every regulation enacted by the Taxicab Commission. As the Supreme Court explained in Iqbal, [P]urposeful discrimination requires more than intent as volition or intent as awareness of consequences. It instead involves a decisionmaker‘s undertaking a course of action ‘because of,’ not merely ‘in spite of,’ [the action‘s] adverse effects upon an identifiable group. Id. at 1948. Considering the “spare facts and allegations” in the complaint, thе Court cannot reasonably infer that defendants were “motivated by discriminatory intent or purpose.” Atherton v. Dist. of Columbia Office of the Mayor, 567 F.3d 672, 688 (D.C.Cir.2009); Ekwem v. Fenty, 666 F.Supp.2d 71, 78-79 (D.D.C.2009). Absent an adequate allegation of discriminatory purpose or intent, strict scrutiny is not warranted. As there is no allegation
B. Fourth Amendment (Count II)
Count II alleges that the MTS Regulation violates the Fourth Amendment right of taxicab drivers and passengers to be protected from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”10
Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim fails because requiring licensed taxicab drivers in the District to install a MTS with a GPS tracking device does not constitute a Fourth Amendment search. A search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment occurs when the government trespasses on private property, United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012), or when it infringes on an individual‘s “reasonable expectation of privacy.” See Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967); Maryland v. Macon, 472 U.S. 463, 469 (1985); see also Jones (“the Katz reasonable-expectatiоn-of-privacy test has been added to, not substituted for, the common-law trespassory test“). Here there has been no trespass and no infringement of a reasonable expectation of privacy. As recently explained by another federal district court, confronted with a Fourth Amendment challenge to similar taxicab requirements, “mandating the installation of [a taximeter system with GPS tracking] and installing the system in compliance with regulations do not constitute a common-law trespass: taxi drivers are aware of the system, the system is installed pursuant to regulations, and the taxicabs in which the system is installed are not truly private vеhicles.” See El-Nahal v. Yassky, 993 F.Supp.2d 460, 467 (S.D.N.Y.2014). In addition, neither the taxicab drivers nor passengers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the pick-up and drop-off data collected by the GPS tracking aspect of the MTS. In 1983, the Supreme Court held that “[a] person traveling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another.” See United States v. Knotts, 460 U.S. 276, 281 (1983). Applying Knotts, other courts have held, and this Court agrees, that requiring a taxicab driver to install a GPS tracking
III. INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY CLAIMS AGAINST LINTON (Counts V, VI, VII)
Counts V, VI, and VII allege that Linton is “individually liable” pursuant
All of these claims are meritless. First, in each instance Linton‘s liability depends on the existence of an underlying constitutional or statutory violation, but the Court has determined that all of the claims against the District must be dismissed. Second, there is no individual liability under either Title II of the ADA or the ADEA. See, e.g., Smith v. Janey, 664 F.Supp.2d 1, 8 (D.D.C.2009) (“no individual liability under ... the ADEA or the ADA“), aff‘d sub nom. Smith v. Rhee, No. 09-7100, 2010 WL 1633177 (D.C.Cir. Apr. 6, 2010); Sindram v. Merriwether, 506 F.Supp.2d 7, 11 (D.D.C.2007) (“Title II of the ADA does not permit lawsuits against individuals.“). Accordingly, plaintiffs’ claims against Linton will be dismissed.
IV. NEGLIGENT TRAINING CLAIM (Count VIII)
Count VIII of the complaint alleges that the District is liable under
sonnel
V. PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
Having concluded that plaintiffs’ complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim, plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is moot.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Court will grant defendants’ motion to dismiss and deny as moot defendants’ motion for summary judgment and plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. A separate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE
United States District Judge