Uber, Lyft Sue NYC to Block 'Just Cause' Deactivation Law for Drivers

By Elias Schisgall

Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft sued New York City seeking to block a law that would require them to demonstrate "just cause" to deactivate driver accounts.

The lawsuits filed Tuesday and Wednesday in federal court for the Southern District of New York ask federal judges to block the measure--known as Local Law 52--before it goes into effect on July 28.

The law, passed in January over former Mayor Eric Adams' veto, would require Uber and Lyft to show that drivers deactivated for just cause had engaged in "egregious misconduct" or had been disciplined within the previous year. The companies will also be required to give a 14-day notice before deactivating an account

Those provisions violate the terms of Uber and Lyft's contracts with their drivers, the companies said in the lawsuits.

"These prohibitions fundamentally rewrite the contractual terms that entitle Lyft to immediately deactivate drivers who pose a risk to rider and public safety or whose conduct threatens to disrupt Lyft's platform," the company said in its lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the New York City Law Department said it was reviewing the cases.

The lawsuits also said that the law would allow drivers whose accounts were deactivated as far back as 2019 to petition for reinstatement, even though the just cause standard had not been in effect.

"This means Uber would be required to reactivate drivers even if Uber had just cause for their deactivation-such as, for example, due to serious complaints of endangering riders-due to a technicality," Uber said its filing.

The companies also objected to measures requiring it to disclose detailed non-public information about the reasons for driver deactivations.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 11, 2026 14:07 ET (18:07 GMT)