§ 392-f Taximeters. 1. Definitions. As used in this section:

Terms Used In N.Y. General Business Law 392-F

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.

(a) "Person" shall include a person, firm, partnership, association or corporation.

(b) "Sell" shall include offer to sell, expose for sale, and possess with intent to dispose of or to sell.

(c) "Taximeter" shall include any device which, when affixed to a motor vehicle, is so constructed as to operate as a fare indicator and a time and distance register for the purpose of automatically determining the charge for which a passenger becomes liable.

(d) "Remove" shall include deface, alter, conceal and obliterate.

2. (a) No manufacturer shall offer for sale any taximeter which does not have etched, stamped or permanently impressed thereon a serial number which has been assigned to it by the manufacturer.

(b) Any manufacturer who sells taximeters within the state shall keep a record of the transaction. The record shall indicate (i) the serial number of the taximeter sold, (ii) the name and address of the vendee, (iii) the date of the sale and (iv) the purchase price.

3. A person being the owner or lawful custodian of a taximeter, the original identification number of which shall have been removed or which never bore a serial number, may apply to the county or municipal authority charged with the obligation of regulating the taxicab industry within its jurisdiction, if any, for permission to make or stamp, or cause to be made or stamped on such taximeter a serial number. If satisfied that the person making application for such permission is the true owner of the taximeter and that its original number was not so removed at the instigation of the person making such application, or, if done by such person, was not done for an unlawful purpose, the county or municipal authority shall issue to the applicant written permission to stamp on the taximeter a special identification number designated by it.

4. Any person who wholly or in part removes or who shall cause to be, wholly or in part, removed from or upon a taximeter the serial number; or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter from or upon which to his or its knowledge, or to the knowledge of his or its agents, servants or employees there has been in whole or in part, removed or concealed the serial number, or who sells or causes to be sold a taximeter from the inspection of which such knowledge could have been obtained, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

5. The sale of a taximeter from which there has been in whole or in part removed or concealed a mark of origin shall be presumptive evidence of the violation of this section.