Brattle Analyses Support Lyft in Wheelchair Accessibility Class Action Suit
A Brattle team provided analyses on behalf of Lyft in a long-running national class action lawsuit alleging that the rideshare platform violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against individuals who require rides in wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). Following a July 2024 trial, a federal judge recently dismissed the suit, finding that the plaintiffs’ request to make Lyft provide WAVs nationwide is not economically feasible.
In 2017, a White Plains, New York resident and the nonprofit Westchester Disabled on the Move Inc. filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Lyft violates the ADA by not providing WAV service in Westchester County or in many other service regions; the plaintiffs asked the court to require Lyft to offer on-demand WAV service throughout the country.
Folger Levin LLP retained Brattle in June 2020 to support Boston University Professor of Economics Dr. Marc Rysman, a leading expert in the economics of multi-sided platforms. Led by Principal Dr. Steve Herscovici, the Brattle team worked closely with Professor Rysman to evaluate the fundamental economic characteristics of Lyft’s platform and the implications of how Lyft simultaneously attracts riders and drivers to its platform. In his expert report and testimony, Professor Rysman concluded that the population of potential Lyft riders who use wheelchairs and the number of potential drivers of WAVs are too small to support offering such a service throughout the nation.
In his ruling issued in September 2024, Judge Philip M. Halpern cited Professor Rysman’s opinion concluding that “it is inconceivable for a [ridesharing platform such as Lyft] to operate” at a sufficient scale for WAV service to be viable. Judge Halpern noted that – while expanding transportation for individuals with disabilities is paramount – the plaintiffs did not meet the burden of proof to show that Lyft violated the ADA or the New York State Human Rights Law, and any proposed modifications to Lyft’s policies and procedures were not economically feasible.
This case is similar to an earlier case in federal court in California in which Professor Rysman also testified that the economics of Lyft’s platform could not support providing WAV service in the state. In 2021, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California ruled that Lyft is not required under the ADA to provide WAV service in California.
