April 4, 2000

Open Hearings Put
TLC in the Spotlight

By PETE DONOHUE
Daily News Staff Writer

Mayat Mulk beat the odds yesterday and won his case in Queens taxi court, but he still left seething.

Mulk contended he never should have been charged with working as a livery driver. He said he didn't need to have a Taxi and Limousine Commission license, since he's an insurance agent, not a livery driver, and was only dropping his cousin off at LaGuardia Airport last month.

An administrative judge agreed with Mulk, whose only resemblance to a livery operator was the Lincoln Town Car he drives.

Despite that vindication, Mulk must wait up to six weeks to get back the $500 he paid the TLC to get his car returned. He also had to pay $150 to another city agency to get the impounded car released.

"I had to pay $700 on the spot," said Mulk, 35, of Brooklyn, "and I have to wait two months to get my own money back." Not to mention the additional $50 he said he spent in cab fares — which he doesn't expect to recoup.

Mulk's story was told yesterday as public access was granted to the TLC's administrative hearings in Long Island City, Queens, for the first time since 1994. What emerges is a glimpse of the types of violations issued and how they are settled in a quasi-judicial system that many drivers complain is hugely unfair.

The quest to open the hearings was led by Public Advocate Mark Green and Daniel Ackman, a Columbia University graduate student and lawyer who sued over the closed-door policy. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Stanley Parness last month ruled that the TLC had no legal right to bar the public from the proceedings, which involve allegations ranging from driver rudeness to cabbies who operate without a license.

Commissioner Diane McGrath-McKechnie called the process fair. Drivers are entitled to hearings and can call witnesses, give testimony and appeal findings, she said.

There were about 135,000 hearings last year, nearly 75% ending with 

Limo driver Levon Davtyan had to wait more than two months after he was hit with a summons charging him with failing to get his limo inspected every four months, as TLC regulations require. At the end, he felt he got a bum deal. He said he was confused because his inspection sticker — issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles — is valid for one year.

Administrative Judge Lisa Rana hit Davtyan with a $350 fine. Like several other drivers yesterday, he did not have a lawyer. TLC officials said drivers must know the regulations and are given rule books.

"Everyone said I would lose, so I figured why waste money on a lawyer," he said. "I was hoping to at least get a reduction" in the fine.

Original Publication Date: 04/04/2000