POSTED BY Nicholas Hasenfus

A recent article by Curtis Skinner has reported that the online smartphone based transportation network company (“TNC”) has recently run into legal trouble in several states in the United States as well as other countries.  TNCs, such as Uber and Lyft, provide taxi services after the user downloads the mobile phone application and requests a ride on it.  The application uses the phones location to know where to pick up the customer.  A user then pays for the transportation service with a credit card through the mobile phone application.

New Orleans lawmakers have cleared online for hire car firms like Uber and Lyft to offer additional luxury taxi services in the city under the recently passed New Orleans ordinance.  The ordinance did not, however, authorize less expensive ridesharing services like UberX and Lyft that have been subject to recent legal challenges.  The New Orleans city council approved the ordinance by a vote of 4 to 3 articulating their support for technology and new ways of doing things.  Other cities such  as New York and Seattle have also embraced smartphone based TNCs

Other cities have been less supportive of smartphone based TNCs.  Las Vegas has banned most app-based car ride services.  Furthermore, Uber and similar businesses have been sued by taxi companies attempting to keep them out of Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.  Internationally, a regional court in Frankfurt, Germany has issued a temporary injunction against Uber claiming that its drivers lacked commercial licenses required to pick up passengers.

Bio: Nicholas Hasenfus is a 3L at Suffolk University Law School and the Managing Editor of the Journal of High Technology Law.  He holds a B.A. in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from Bridgewater State University.  Prior to attending Bridgewater State University, he was a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.