Taxi Drivers Miffed Over Uber and Lyft Just Sued the City of Chicago

A group of taxi drivers and owners in Chicago who've been steaming over the arrival of unregulated "ride-share" companies like Uber and Lyft finally filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the city in federal court for doing little to rein them in. The 65-page complaint (not counting the many, many appendixes) is novel on several fronts. This is the first time cab drivers have tried suing a city in their escalating war with the new wave of companies providing taxi-like services without the literal taxis.

And their legal logic is provocative (whether you agree with the drivers or not). In short, the taxi companies, alongside the Illinois Transportation Trade Association, are arguing that the city is damaging and discriminating against them by refusing to enforce the same stringent regulations it has long imposed on the taxi industry on these newer "de facto taxi services," which function "in all material respects as taxi companies." (If you've been troubled by the ambiguity of the term "ride-sharing," the lawsuit repeatedly uses this label instead: Unlawful Transportation Providers.)