Taxi Medallions Pit ‘Cartel’ Against Property Rights in Florida

The hopes of dozens of Tampa-area taxi companies seeking to cash in on their once exclusive rights to operate cabs in the city will hinge on whether Florida’s high court views those licenses—known as taxi medallions—as “private property” under law or merely a right the state could strip without compensation.

An hour-long Florida Supreme Court oral argument Wednesday focused on the plight of 33 Hillsborough County transportation companies, who bought taxi medallions at auction and relied on them for financial gain. Cab drivers willed them to children and used them as collateral for mortgages only for them to become worthless ...