On December 20th, New York City Council Voted to End the Unfair Practice of Double Jeopardy Ticketing

The Independent Drivers Guild lobbied the New York City Council for a solution to Double Jeopardy Ticketing. For too long drivers for apps like Uber and Lyft have been ticketed and fined by the city’s DOT for a violation, paying to fight or settle that ticket, and then months later they would be ticketed again for the same exact violation by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. This week the city council passed a bill to end this unfair practice. This victory requires judges and hearing officers to dismiss a duplicate notice of violation.

The city’s official summary of Intro 748-A is as follows:

This bill would establish certain procedural requirements in relation to violations of New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) laws or regulations adjudicated by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). The bill would require that a TLC representative would be required to be present at hearings, either in person or remotely; that a respondent could appear remotely, through internet video; that OATH could reduce a violation, if it finds doing so to be in the interests of justice, subject to a review by TLC; that any duplicate notice of violation should be automatically dismissed and, finally, it would establish hearing timeliness requirements to facilitate prompt adjudication of violations.

The mayor is expected to sign the legislation soon and the law will take effect 180 days thereafter. In the meantime, if you have questions about tickets and duplicate tickets, please call our legal helpline – (800) 576-7806. Please note, IDG does not provide any legal services and is simply an intermediary.