Dan Ackman, Esq
Senior Counsel
Dan Ackman, Esq joined LitigationsWord as a top complex securities and commercial dispute litigator but also with a strong emphasis and focus on civil rights, administrative and constitutional class action litigation. Perhaps best known for representing New York City's taxi drivers in a series of civil rights class action lawsuits, Ackman's cases have resulted in a half dozen City practices being declared unconstitutional or unlawful. He has also recovered millions of dollars in damages for taxi drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked. And he may be the only lawyer in America who has deposed both former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current President of the United States Donald Trump.
Dan's cases have resulted in:
- A Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission Limousine (TLC) policy and practice of suspending drivers based on an arrest and then extending those suspensions after a hearing is unconstitutional;
- A federal district court ruling holding that the TLC's Operation Refusal program denied taxi drivers Due Process of Law, which led to a multi-million dollar damage settlement for the plaintiff class;
- A federal district court judgment that the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings summary suspension of a non-lawyer advocate for taxi drivers was unconstitutional in that it denied the advocate due process of law;
- A pair of federal district court decisions that the TLC program of seizing vehicles without a warrant or hearing violated the Fourth Amendment and denied vehicle owners due process of law;
- A federal district court decision holding portions of the TLC revocation-on-conviction policy to be unconstitutional, which led to a multi-million dollar settlement for the plaintiff class;
- A federal court decision providing for a fairer assessment of attorneys fees in constitutional cases;
- A state court decision opening TLC courts to the public.
Achievement
Dan has also handled commercial cases for small business owners and large financial institutions as well as on behalf of taxi drivers who alleged taxi fleet managers had overcharged them. He has won more than $3 million in judgments in commercial actions.
He is currently co-counsel in two actions on behalf of taxi drivers and investors who purchased medallions from the City of New York at auctions just before the TLC opened the door to e-hail taxis, which decimated the value of the medallions the City had just sold.
Early in his career, Dan was associated with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, where he specialized in securities, real estate and commercial litigation. Later, he was the lead writer in a treatise on securities litigation.
Dan is also an accomplished journalist and has written widely about law and other topics for publications including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer and Forbes Magazine, Slate and the Daily News.
A native New Yorker, Dan is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a teaching assistant and an editor of the Journal of Law and Social Problems.
