Hello everybody… This month, I want to talk again about TLC appeals of a hearing where a driver or owner prevails and wins a dismissal of charges. It often happens that a respondent driver or owner will prevail at a hearing only to have TLC appeal the dismissal to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) appeals unit. It also frequently happens that TLC prevails on appeal at the OATH appeals unit and that the dismissal is reversed and points, penalty and fines are assessed against a driver or owner who had previously “won” a case, only to have a “loss” snatch victory from said respondent driver/owner’s hands. Obviously, this is very frustrating, costly and unnerving to a respondent driver or owner.
Last month, I talked about 48 RCNY section 6-19(a)(1) as the rule that allows TLC, which is a party in a proceeding against a driver or owner, to appeal a ruling adverse to its interests. So, for instance, let’s analyze what happens when TLC “loses” a hearing for a stop sign ticket to a driver respondent at an initial OATH hearing and then appeals to the OATH Appeals Unit.
Let’s briefly discuss two appeals of recent OATH appeal unit cases concerning stop sign cases where the driver won a hearing and TLC appealed, which I looked up on the OATH website.
The first one – appeal no. 73220411a – concerns a stop sign ticket issued on April 26, 2022, at 102nd Street and Ditmars Blvd in Queens and which the hearing officer dismissed on May 23, 2022. The hearing was held by telephone. The driver respondent submitted five photos showing the scene near the airport. The hearing officer at the initial hearing ruled that the issuing officer had failed to describe whether there was a stop line or a crosswalk at the location where respondent had allegedly not stopped and dismissed the summons against the driver. The respondent driver initially prevailed and received no points and no fine. However, TLC appealed.
On appeal, the appeals ALJ found that the TLC had indeed established its case because the ticket contained a statement by the issuing officer that the respondent driver did not stop, and TLC does not have to discuss stop line or crosswalk presence on its direct case.
The appeals court then analyzed whether the respondent had indeed established enough evidence that he did stop, but the appeals court found that the respondent had failed to state that he did stop at the stop sign at the hearing, and therefore the ALJ at the initial hearing had not made a determination about the actual stop in this case. The appeals court then determined that the respondent had not established properly at the initial hearing that he did stop for the stop sign and reversed the initial hearing determination and found the driver guilty and gave him three points and a $400 fine.
The second case yielded the same result as the first, with the driver winning initially at the first OATH hearing, but TLC appealed the dismissal and on appeal prevailed and won the case. The driver had to pay $400 and received three points.
The second case (73250150a) concerned a stop at Avenue Y and West 2 Street in Brooklyn on November 16, 2021. The initial hearing was held March 7, 2022, and the judge initially dismissed the stop sign ticket stating that TLC failed to establish a case against the driver respondent because the ticket did not contain information about the stop line. On appeal the TLC won because again the appeals court found that TLC did not need to have information about a stop line in the ticket and the driver had refused to rebut the presumption that he did not stop his for-hire vehicle properly at the stop sign. This includes rolling through a stop sign.
The TLC often prevails on appeal, even if a driver wins at the initial hearing. It is worth noting that that a driver may appeal an OATH appeals unit decision to the Supreme Court in New York State by using an Article 78 proceeding, but that likely involves spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer like myself, and is unlikely to be an option for most tickets, like failing to stop at a stop sign.
If you receive a summons like a stop sign ticket at TLC, reach out to me or a lawyer or representative like me to help you navigate the rough waters of TLC jurisprudence. Thank you for reading my article. Until next month, be well.
