A.    It is unlawful for any owner or operator to drive or operate a taxicab, or cause it to be driven or operated in the city, and no certificate for operation of it shall be granted, unless and until there is on file with the city clerk, and in full force and effect at all times while such taxicab is being operated, a policy of auto liability insurance approved by the city attorney, with a solvent and responsible company authorized to do business in the state of California, whereby the owner and driver of each of the taxicabs operated under the franchise are insured against liability for damage to property and for injury to or death of any person as a result of the ownership, operation, defective construction of such taxicab or other use thereof. Further, such policy of insurance shall name the city, its officers, agents and employees as additional insureds. Additionally, a vehicle owner and driver shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the city, its officers, agents and employees from claims arising from or alleged to arise from the negligence of the vehicle owner or driver.

    B.    Such policy shall have a minimum liability coverage of one million dollars for the injury or death of one person, one million dollars for the injury or death of two or more persons in the same accident and two hundred fifty thousand dollars for injury or destruction to property in any one accident. Additional coverage shall be provided by the certificate holder as required by the risk manager and/or city attorney if deemed necessary based on the history of the holder’ s operation of the taxicab business, the driving and/or criminal history of drivers employed by the holder and other conditions which may create additional risks associated with the operation of the taxicab business.

    C.    Such policy of insurance shall guarantee the payment of any final judgment rendered against such owner or driver to any person suffering injury or damage to his person or property, within the required limits, irrespective of the financial condition of such owner or any acts or omissions of such owner or driver, and shall inure to the benefit of such person.

    D.    The receipt by the city of a notice of cancellation of a policy of insurance for reasons attributed to such an act of an owner shall result in the suspension of the insured vehicle’ s certificate of operation; the suspension shall commence on the effective date of the cancellation of insurance as stated in the notice. The holder of a suspended certificate must apply for and obtain a new certificate of operation prior to resuming operating the subject vehicle within the city. The certificate holder is responsible also to keep the city informed of deletions and additions of vehicles to the insurance schedule when changes are made during the year.

    E.    If at any time such policy of insurance is canceled by the company issuing it, or the authority of the company to do business in the state is revoked, the city clerk shall require the owner to replace such policy with another company satisfactory to the city attorney and in default thereof the owner’ s certificate of operation shall be revoked. (Ord. 636 § 1, 2003: Ord. 521 § 1, 1995: Ord. 512 § 2, 1994: prior code § 10-59)