Inquiry Into Taxi Firm’s Insurance Coverage Begins : Transportation: Checker Cab denies any lapse in policy, a violation subject to revocation of its permit.

A San Fernando Valley taxi firm is under investigation by city officials for possibly operating without insurance--a violation of city taxi rules punishable by revocation of the firm’s operating permit, city officials said Thursday.

A representative of San Fernando Valley Checker Cab acknowledged that the firm’s insurance was canceled in December but said that the company picked up a new policy before the old coverage expired.

“There was never a lapse in the policy,” said Scott Schaffer, a representative of Burbank-based Checker Cab. He added that the coverage was canceled because the firm stopped making payments on the policy. He did not say why.

The questions about Checker Cab’s insurance were raised Thursday at a meeting of the city’s Board of Transportation Commissioners, which oversees the franchise agreements required of all taxi firms operating in the city.

If there was a lapse in coverage, Alan Willis, a senior transportation engineer, said it would be “the most serious violation that a company can make,” the only infraction punishable by immediate franchise revocation.

Willis said he will investigate the allegation and return to the commission with a recommendation. If the commission decides to revoke the taxi firm’s franchise, the firm can appeal the decision to the City Council, he said.

Willis said Checker Cab’s insurance company notified the city on Dec. 28 that the firm’s insurance coverage had been canceled a few days earlier. Robert Yates, general manager for the department of transportation, sent Checker Cab a letter the following week, instructing the firm to provide proof of coverage by 3 p.m. on Jan. 6, Willis said.

He said Checker Cab provided documentation for insurance before the deadline but the city attorney decided that the insurance offered was not acceptable because it was not signed by a certified insurance agent.

Yates immediately issued a notice suspending Checker Cab but lifted that suspension on Jan. 7, when the taxi firm provided documents showing that it had a new, legally binding insurance policy.

Willis said the city still doesn’t know if Checker Cab had coverage between the day the first policy was canceled in late December and Jan. 7.

This is not Checker Cab’s first run-in with the city. In September, 1993, the city ordered Checker Cab to forfeit its $20,000 bond to the city for failing to meet a schedule for putting cabs on the road. Earlier last year, the Board of Transportation Commissioners put Checker Cab on a six-month probation for dispatching cabs that had no city permits.