With claims that a plan from the mayor of New York's office to create up to 18,000 livery cabs would create unfair competition with the city's yellow cabs, an association of credit union lenders has filed a lawsuit to halt the effort.

The Taxicab Service Association said it filed on April 27 in New York State Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the HAIL Act. According to the group, the act embodies Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2011 plan to create a new class of up to 18,000 liveries authorized to pick up street hails in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and much of Manhattan.

The TSA said the act is in direct competition with New York's yellow cabs, and it authorizes the mayor alone to flood the market with 2,000 new yellow cab medallions. TSA works exclusively with credit union lenders who finance medallions. Taxi medallions are licenses that allow for the ownership and operation of a taxi. The association's members are the New York-based $1.7 billion Melrose Credit Union, the $578 million Progressive Credit Union, the $133 million Montauk Credit Union and the $232 million Lomto Federal Credit Union.