Convictions, continuances both hit the brakes

Not everybody is happy about sweeping background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers, with defense attorneys saying the restrictions are overreaching and take hardworking drivers off the road.

“We’ve seen a rash of calls from people affected by this,” said Johanna Griffiths, a defense attorney with Matson Law in Braintree. “We’ve seen people who have completely nonviolent offenses, offenses with nothing to do with their ability to drive.”

The agreements between the Department of Public Utilities and the ride-forhire companies specify a list of offenses that would make a driver ineligible if convicted. Yesterday, the DPU booted 8,000 ride-hailing drivers from the road in the state based on that list.

But for nearly every offense, the DPU considers continuances without a finding (CWOF) the same as a conviction.

“There’s a big difference between a conviction and a CWOF ... there’s a distinction between being found guilty and not being found guilty,” said Pauline Quirion, an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, who has also been getting unsolicited calls from disqualified drivers. “Ultimately, it’s not fair to people.”

It is unclear how many of the more than 8,000 deactivated drivers had CWOFs, and DPU said it does not track that.

“We can all agree we don’t want violent felons driving around in the middle of the night, we don’t want people who have sex offenses on their record,” Griffiths said. “While they may have been catching too few drivers, they are catching way, way too many now.”