The Milwaukee Business Journal reports: "Five taxi groups are suing the city of Milwaukee, hoping to block an ordinance recently signed into law that lifts a cap on taxi permits and provides a path to legalization for mobile ride-booking apps."
The taxi owners say that a 1991 that caps the number of permits creates a property right that the new law lifting the cap denies them due process and equal protection. They say the new law will destroy the value of existing permits, currently priced at $150,000. The suit is seeking a temporary or permanent injunction of the city's law, as well as potential monetary damages.
But the the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice, which has already sued the city to require it to lift the cap on new medallions, calls the cab companies' suit "desperate [and] baseless and belies their true motivation of protecting their monopoly at all costs."
