The state is claiming sovereign immunity in the case of two Fairfield County taxi companies that filed suit against two state agencies for failing to apply taxi cab regulations to app-enabled ride services Uber and Lyft.
Stamford Yellow Cab and Westport Star Taxi, which operate 61 cabs between them, have petitioned a Superior Court judge to order the Department of Transportation and Department of Motor Vehicles to exercise their regulatory functions related to ride-sharing services.
The cab companies argue in the suit, initiated in mid-March, that state regulators should require such companies to apply for the authority to operate a taxicab company and conform to minimum insurance requirements.
Assistant Attorney General Charles Walsh argued in a motion to dismiss on behalf of the state agencies that the court lacked jurisdiction because the state has sovereign immunity against lawsuits and that the cab companies lacked standing.
The plaintiffs responded that the state’s inaction represented an action in excess of its statutory authority, which the Supreme Court has recognized as an exception to sovereign immunity. They also said the state’s inaction has aggrieved them, creating “unfair and illegal competition.”
Uber has grown its presence in Fairfield and New Haven counties, and also provides service in the Greater Hartford area. Lyft suspended Connecticut operations early this year.
A bill that would have enacted some regulations on ride sharing died in the legislature’s recent session.
Cab companies in Boston and New York this year have filed similar suits against their respective city governments. Many more cab operators have sued Uber and Lyft directly.
