In an opinion today, Judge Engelmayer prelminarily enjoined  New York City’s new ordinance requiring homesharing platforms to share data about hosts and guests to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), adopted to help enforce a law prohibiting short term rentals in certain “multiple dwelling” buildings.  (See our prior coverage here.)

He concluded that the Fourth Amendment applied to the compelled production of the data, and that the ordinance was overly broad:
Continue Reading Judge Engelmayer Enjoins on Fourth Amendment Grounds City Law Requiring Homesharing Platforms to Routinely Disclose Rental Data

Last week, Airbnb filed a complaint challenging the city’s new ordinance requiring homesharing platforms to share data about hosts and guests to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement.  According to Airbnb, the new ordinance allows the city to collect wide-ranging categories of non-public information:

“[T]he Ordinance requires Internet homesharing platforms to turn over personal information

This week, Judge Forrest dismissed an action by New York City pedicab drivers challenging city policies towards pedicabs as unconstitutional.  The drivers claimed that NYPD officers were given instructions “from above” to “stop all pedicabs,” which resulted in unwarranted inspections, checkpoints, and fines.

Judge Forrest found that the plaintiffs failed to allege a colorable Fourth Amendment claim:
Continue Reading Judge Forrest Tosses Suit Challenging Alleged City Policy to “Stop All Pedicabs”

In a 108-page opinion today, Judge Torres ruled that various police unions could not intervene to block or appeal the settlement of litigation concerning the police practice known as “stop-and-frisk.”  New York City and the plaintiffs have agreed to settlement terms, but Judge Torres found that the unions raised their objections too late and that, in any event, the unions lacked sufficient interest in the merits that were distinct from the interests of the City:
Continue Reading Judge Torres Denies Police Unions’ Request to Intervene in Stop-and-Frisk Litigation