LIHUE — A group of cab drivers is suing the Lihue Airport for unlawful dispatching practices and negligence in preventing acts of retaliation by airport management. The suit, filed at 5th Circuit Court, alleges that unregulated transportation providers are ignoring
LIHUE — A group of cab drivers is suing the Lihue Airport for unlawful dispatching practices and negligence in preventing acts of retaliation by airport management.
The suit, filed at 5th Circuit Court, alleges that unregulated transportation providers are ignoring protocol and cutting in line when it comes to picking up arriving passengers.
The five plaintiffs, Gregory Disilvestri (635-TAXI); William Doherty, Wayne Hori (South Shore Taxi); and North Shore Cab Company, are all licensed to serve the airport and together filed suit against the state Department of Transportation and Airports Division.
“We have faced loss and suffering, and that is the reason that this case is here,” said Gregory Disilvestri.
Honolulu attorney Mitchell S. Wong, representing the plaintiffs, said a few taxi companies or individual drivers have suffered consequences that include extreme loss of business, and that there appears to be an intentional act by the state against those drivers. He declined to elaborate further about the complaint.
“The foregoing system allowed for the fair and reasonable distribution of airport passenger and visitor fares among all of the taxi services,” the complaint reads. “Now, however, destination management companies — which are not subject to Hawaii state regulation as common carriers — are providing transportation services to airport passengers and visitors at the Lihue Airport.”
According to the complaint, the Lihue Airport had an arrangement for paid transportation services. They are provided to airport passengers and visitors in the form of pre-arranged transportation or on-demand transportation.
Arriving passengers could contact a vendor directly to schedule a pick-up, or have an individual or agent contact a vendor on behalf of the airport passenger or visitor.
Motor vehicles that provided pre-arranged transportation included shuttle buses, limousines and taxis. Any vendor who provided pre-arranged transportation at the airport was subject to a 3 percent state tax on all pre-arranged transportation fees.
Arriving passengers who desired on-demand transportation could contact the dispatcher, who would appoint a taxi from a rotating taxi line — all of whom register and pay a monthly state fee of $150 per vehicle to be a part of that pool process.
But some providers are picking up passengers without paying fees, according to the complaint.
The suit says the airport now allows destination management companies that are not subject to state regulations to provide service from the airport. The companies send individual destination management coordinators as “greeters” to meet arriving travelers at the airport.
Neither Wong nor the complaint specified what companies those were, but the suit alleges those greeters then contact certain taxi services. The funneling of fares to a select group of shuttle buses, limousines or taxis bypasses the pre-arranged or on-demand transportation vendors and leaves others shorted, according to the suit.
Sixteen cab companies are listed in the Kauai phone book.
“The destination management companies were not in compliance with the laws governing motor carriers, and that they were unfairly favoring certain taxi services over others,” the suit states, adding that the drivers were the target of punishment once they complained of the alleged process. “These same plaintiffs were subjected to harassment and retaliation by agents of the state.”
This brokering of airport transportation is in violation of the laws and regulations that govern motor vehicle common carriers, the suit states. It says the state is negligent in ensuring airport taxi operations continue without harassment, punitive action or discrimination against law abiding parties and seeks damages and harm to be settled at trail.
HDOT Chief of Communications Caroline Sluyter declined to comment on the pending legislation.
Some of the these same taxi companies have a history of contention with the airport.
In a May 2013 TGI article, drivers complained after the airport moved the taxi waiting area, and one taxi driver, William Doherty, said the airport administration temporarily suspended his airport privileges after he posted a sign calling an airport manager a name.
Doherty said on Tuesday he joined the suit with the other companies because of ongoing harassment to himself and others. He wanted to stand up for hard-working drivers.
“There is no due process and that is one of the things that concerns me,” Doherty said about people speaking up and being threatened for the most minor or infractions.
Wayne Hori, owner of South Shore Taxi, said the lawsuit is basically about the “small boys” being abused by “the big boys.”
“They were making fun of us and abusing the law and they should know better,” he said.
