From the March 2008 Chicago Dispatcher
Fake Friends
How AFSC is trying to take Chicago cabdrivers for a ride
By: George Lutfallah
If you have been overcharged on your lease, you are entitled to get all of your money back. Why shouldn't you? It's your money, isn't it? But the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) working through a group calling themselves the UTCC is putting out more propaganda suggesting that you should let them help you sue owners to get your money back. They say they won’t get anything for this but that they’ll “pull in outside counsel” who will take 25-33% of your money if they win.
Drivers, please don't be fooled by this scam. If you have been overcharged on your lease, there is a very simple remedy to get all of your money back, if talking to the cab owner directly doesn’t work. In fact, you have already paid for this service. All you have to do is file a complaint with the Department of Consumer Services (DCS) and let them do the work.
AFSC knows you can do this so they use fear as a tactic to try to get you to fall in line with them. They say that you should join with them for fear of “retaliation” by the fleets. Ooooh! Scary!
But that still doesn't explain why they need to use outside attorneys. If there's strength in numbers, still, why can't you collectively go to DCS? I don't seem to be able to follow their logic. I mean, if they want to get you your money back, DCS will get it back. All of it. Not only that, but DCS has regulatory authority so they can also punish owners who overcharge. But maybe this has more to do with strong-arming cab owners than actually solving your problems.
If you're not sure you're being overcharged, or if you're just uncomfortable about going by yourself to the city to file a complaint, ask someone to review your lease and go to the city with you. I'm sure one of the truly independent cabdriver organizations would be happy to help. You could go to the CCO, the AUPD or the Ghanaian Cabdrivers Association. If you need help getting in touch with them, give us a call at the newspaper at (773) 348-8294.
And if you're really being overcharged on your lease and the city doesn't do anything about it, let me know, or let any major media outlet know. If the city is conspiring with fleets to overcharge lease drivers, the media will have a field day with this!
If AFSC has proof that drivers are being overcharged on the lease, they have never sent us a single complaint they filed on behalf of a driver. Not one.
Prateek Sampat of AFSC even testified at the last fare increase hearing that, “The current lease rate law in our analysis is very protective of drivers.”
So why does AFSC want to sue cab owners privately rather than just go to the city to get all your money back, if you have been overcharged? I don't think it takes a genius to figure that one out.
But just for the fun of it, let's run through an example of how this would likely go down. Let's suppose that you are part of a group of a thousand cabdrivers who have in fact been overcharged by $15 each. If you take your case to the city, you'll get your $15 back and that owner may be hammered with fines.
If you take it to the AFSC endorsed lawyer, you'll get about $10 and you'll wait a very long time for this fraction of your money. Actually it may be even less than this because you will have authorized the attorney to negotiate a settlement on your behalf, which could be for less than you’re owed. But if the lawyer is successful at getting you the entire $10, just so you know, the lawyer will get about $5,000. That's how it works.
So for whose interest is AFSC really working?
Regarding the UTCC, I will reserve my comments at this time, primarily because I honestly believe that some of the cabdrivers involved think they are doing the right thing by being involved with AFSC. But I'm hopeful that they will realize soon enough what's going on here and will break away to form an independent organization or will work with existing independent cabdriver organizations. Rest assured, this lease overcharge plan is being driven by AFSC. They were working on this scheme long before the UTCC was even formed.
Now, let me prepare you for what's probably going to happen next. If history repeats itself, AFSC will not be able to counter a single point I made here. So what they'll do is attack me personally. They're going to tell you that I'm just “in with the fleet owners.” They'll say that I'm “in with the city.” They'll spin a lot of stories about me, all in a feeble attempt to cover the facts I've laid out here. Don't let them off the hook when they try to pull their misdirection play. And whatever you do, do not sign any document authorizing AFSC or their cohorts to represent you!
It's a cheap lawyer's trick. When you can't defend your position, attack the person. But given the scam they're trying to pull now with these outside attorneys, would you expect anything less?
And nothing they say will change the fact that if you've been overcharged, you're entitled to get every penny back and that AFSC is trying to scare you into letting outside attorneys get a cut.
-George Lutfallah, CL # 79310
Your editorial is well-put, George.
Any cabdrivers who think they were overcharged by anybody at anytime can call me at (312) 933-1932, or just drop into my office at the Chinatown Hotel, 214 W. 22nd Place, from 3pm-6pm, Monday through Friday.
I will make sure that you will get your money back as quick as possible, and ALL OF IT!
Please note that I will, of course, be attending the Chicago Cabdriver March on Monday, March 24, at 2pm, as described in my letter to the Chicago Dispatcher this month.
Cabdrivers may also e-mail me for any reason: chinatownmike@yahoo.com. I prefer e-mails and text messages; it makes this business easier to do.
-Mike Foulks, President, Chicago Cabdriver Organization (CCO)
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Replying to:
From the March 2008 Chicago Dispatcher
Fake Friends
How AFSC is trying to take Chicago cabdrivers for a ride
By: George Lutfallah
If you have been overcharged on your lease, you are entitled to get all of your money back. Why shouldn't you? It's your money, isn't it? But the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) working through a group calling themselves the UTCC is putting out more propaganda suggesting that you should let them help you sue owners to get your money back. They say they won’t get anything for this but that they’ll “pull in outside counsel” who will take 25-33% of your money if they win.
Drivers, please don't be fooled by this scam. If you have been overcharged on your lease, there is a very simple remedy to get all of your money back, if talking to the cab owner directly doesn’t work. In fact, you have already paid for this service. All you have to do is file a complaint with the Department of Consumer Services (DCS) and let them do the work.
AFSC knows you can do this so they use fear as a tactic to try to get you to fall in line with them. They say that you should join with them for fear of “retaliation” by the fleets. Ooooh! Scary!
But that still doesn't explain why they need to use outside attorneys. If there's strength in numbers, still, why can't you collectively go to DCS? I don't seem to be able to follow their logic. I mean, if they want to get you your money back, DCS will get it back. All of it. Not only that, but DCS has regulatory authority so they can also punish owners who overcharge. But maybe this has more to do with strong-arming cab owners than actually solving your problems.
If you're not sure you're being overcharged, or if you're just uncomfortable about going by yourself to the city to file a complaint, ask someone to review your lease and go to the city with you. I'm sure one of the truly independent cabdriver organizations would be happy to help. You could go to the CCO, the AUPD or the Ghanaian Cabdrivers Association. If you need help getting in touch with them, give us a call at the newspaper at (773) 348-8294.
And if you're really being overcharged on your lease and the city doesn't do anything about it, let me know, or let any major media outlet know. If the city is conspiring with fleets to overcharge lease drivers, the media will have a field day with this!
If AFSC has proof that drivers are being overcharged on the lease, they have never sent us a single complaint they filed on behalf of a driver. Not one.
Prateek Sampat of AFSC even testified at the last fare increase hearing that, “The current lease rate law in our analysis is very protective of drivers.”
So why does AFSC want to sue cab owners privately rather than just go to the city to get all your money back, if you have been overcharged? I don't think it takes a genius to figure that one out.
But just for the fun of it, let's run through an example of how this would likely go down. Let's suppose that you are part of a group of a thousand cabdrivers who have in fact been overcharged by $15 each. If you take your case to the city, you'll get your $15 back and that owner may be hammered with fines.
If you take it to the AFSC endorsed lawyer, you'll get about $10 and you'll wait a very long time for this fraction of your money. Actually it may be even less than this because you will have authorized the attorney to negotiate a settlement on your behalf, which could be for less than you’re owed. But if the lawyer is successful at getting you the entire $10, just so you know, the lawyer will get about $5,000. That's how it works.
So for whose interest is AFSC really working?
Regarding the UTCC, I will reserve my comments at this time, primarily because I honestly believe that some of the cabdrivers involved think they are doing the right thing by being involved with AFSC. But I'm hopeful that they will realize soon enough what's going on here and will break away to form an independent organization or will work with existing independent cabdriver organizations. Rest assured, this lease overcharge plan is being driven by AFSC. They were working on this scheme long before the UTCC was even formed.
Now, let me prepare you for what's probably going to happen next. If history repeats itself, AFSC will not be able to counter a single point I made here. So what they'll do is attack me personally. They're going to tell you that I'm just “in with the fleet owners.” They'll say that I'm “in with the city.” They'll spin a lot of stories about me, all in a feeble attempt to cover the facts I've laid out here. Don't let them off the hook when they try to pull their misdirection play. And whatever you do, do not sign any document authorizing AFSC or their cohorts to represent you!
It's a cheap lawyer's trick. When you can't defend your position, attack the person. But given the scam they're trying to pull now with these outside attorneys, would you expect anything less?
And nothing they say will change the fact that if you've been overcharged, you're entitled to get every penny back and that AFSC is trying to scare you into letting outside attorneys get a cut.
-George Lutfallah, CL # 79310
