Can My Base or Car Owner Make Me Pay Their Summons?

Usually not. TLC rules say a base, an FHV vehicle owner you lease from, and a taxi owner must not make you pay a summons that was written to them. The exceptions are narrow: parking tickets and red-light camera tickets from your lease period (when you could dispute them), certain inspection fines if your FHV lease makes inspection your job, and some franchise or co-op black car bases. Uber and Lyft are never in that last group.

A summons "written to the driver" names you as the respondent, and it is yours to answer. This page is about summonses written to the base or owner, such as a vehicle-equipment, base-records or owner-inspection summons, that someone then tries to pass to you.

The rule for each relationship

Bases

Rule 59B-18(f)(3)(iii) says a base cannot require a driver to pay a summons not written to the driver unless all three conditions are met: the driver and base work under a franchise agreement filed with the NY Attorney General or a cooperative agreement filed with TLC; that agreement explicitly allows it; and the base does not operate as or dispatch for a high-volume for-hire service. In practice, if you drive for Uber or Lyft, there is no exception. The same paragraph says a base may charge only fees listed in your base agreement and may not ask for or accept tips.

FHV leases

Rule 59A-21(c)(3) lets the owner who leases you the car pass on only two kinds of owner summonses: parking tickets or red-light violations issued during the lease, if you were given a chance to dispute them; and fines under rule 59B-26(a) (vehicle inspection) if the fine came from your conduct, you had notice of the inspection date, and your lease clearly makes inspection your responsibility. Anything else is an overcharge. Read your lease before you sign: the inspection clause is the one to look for.

Taxi leases

For yellow taxis, rule 58-21(e) lists what an owner may take from your security deposit at the end of a lease: unpaid lease charges, damage if the lease clearly says you're responsible, parking tickets issued during the lease, red-light camera violations issued to the owner during the lease, and MTA tax still owed. Rule 58-21(e)(3) then says the owner must not make you pay any other summons written to the owner. TLC's taxi driver bill of rights poster puts it simply: parking or red-light tickets are a permitted charge "if driver is allowed to challenge the ticket."

Does your situation fit an exception?

What to do next

1. Ask for a copy of the summons and check whose name is on it and the date.
2. Check your lease or base agreement for the inspection clause or a franchise/co-op clause.
3. Say no in writing and keep a copy. If money was already taken from your pay or deposit, ask for an itemized receipt; TLC rules require receipts for every charge.
4. Report it to TLC's Driver Protection Unit. Each of these rules says the hearing officer must order the base or owner to pay you restitution equal to what you were charged in violation of the rule.
5. Don't fear retaliation. It is a separate violation: see can my owner or base retaliate.

Related money questions: my base didn't pay me for a trip and how fast must my base pay me. Examples of owner-side rules: 59A-11(b)(1) (an FHV owner letting a vehicle be dispatched without a validly licensed driver; $350 vehicle fine) and 59A-25(a)(1) (pre-arranged trips only), both in chapter 59A, the rules for FHV vehicle owners. Check the respondent line before anyone asks you to pay. More on the driver rights hub. This is general information, not legal advice.