LMP Services, Inc v. The City of Chicago
LMP Services, Inc v. The City of Chicago
Opinion
¶ 1 Plaintiff-appellant, LMP Services, Inc. (LMP), filed this lawsuit seeking both declaratory and injunctive relief against two sections of an ordinance passed by defendant-appellee, City of Chicago (City). The two challenged ordinances pertained to the operation of mobile food vehicles (hereinafter food trucks) within Chicago. Under the first challenged ordinance, food trucks may not, with limited exceptions, locate themselves within 200 feet of the principal customer entrance of a restaurant located at street level. LMP challenged this ordinance under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Illinois Constitution. Under the second challenged provision, food trucks must be equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) that sends real-time data to any service that has a publicly accessible application programming interface. LMP challenged this provision as a violation of its right under the Illinois Constitution to be free from unreasonable searches.
¶ 2 After LMP filed an amended complaint, the City moved to dismiss all of LMP's claims. The circuit court granted the motion with respect to the equal protection claim but denied the motion as to the due process and search claims. The City answered the remaining claims and the parties proceeded to discovery. At the close of discovery, the parties moved for cross-summary judgment. As to the 200-foot rule, the circuit court found it rationally related to (1) the City's need to balance the interests of both the food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants and (2) the City's need to balance sidewalk congestion. As to the GPS requirement, the circuit court found LMP lacked standing because the City had never requested its GPS information and, therefore, a search had not occurred. The court further concluded that, even if a search had occurred, the search was reasonable and therefore constitutional.
¶ 3 LMP now appeals the circuit court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City. Upon this court's review, we agree with the circuit court's findings that LMP's constitutional challenge to both sections of the ordinance fails. The City has a critical interest in maintaining a thriving food service industry of which brick-and-mortar establishments are an essential part. The 200-foot exclusion represents a rational means of ensuring the general welfare of the City and is neither arbitrary
*1264
nor unreasonable. The GPS is not a search pursuant to
United States v. Jones
,
¶ 4 JURISDICTION
¶ 5 On June 13, 2013, the circuit court granted the City's motion to dismiss LMP's equal protection claim. On December 5, 2016, the circuit court granted the City's motion for summary judgment on LMP's due process and illegal search claims. LMP's cross-motion for summary judgment was denied the same day. On December 28, 2016, LMP timely filed its notice of appeal as to the December 5, 2016 order. 1 Accordingly, this court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to article VI, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution and Illinois Supreme Court Rules 301 and 303. Ill. Const. 1970, art. VI, § 6 ; Ill. S. Ct. R. 301 (eff. Feb. 1, 1994); R. 303 (eff. May 30, 2008).
¶ 6 BACKGROUND
¶ 7 The plaintiff-appellant, LMP is a closely held Illinois corporation in Elmhurst, Illinois. Its owner, Laura Pekarik, operates the food truck called Cupcakes for Courage. Cupcakes for Courage is licensed in Chicago as a "mobile food dispenser," and since June 2011, Pekarik has sold cupcakes from the food truck.
¶ 8 On July 25, 2012, the Chicago city council passed an ordinance to expand food truck operations within the city limits of Chicago. The ordinance allows for food preparation on food trucks and established a number of regulations governing location, operation, and inspection of food trucks. The ordinance authorizes the commissioner of transportation for the City to establish fixed stands where parking space for food trucks is reserved. Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-117(c) (added July 25, 2012). The ordinance requires a "minimum of 5 such stands" in each "community area * * * designated in section 1-14-010 of this Code [ (Chicago Municipal Code § 1-14-010 (added Dec. 15, 1993)) ], that has 300 or more retail food establishments."
¶ 9 Beyond food stands, food trucks may park in legal parking spots on the street for up to two hours. Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(b) (amended July 25, 2012). Food trucks may not park within 20 feet of a crosswalk, 30 feet of a stop light or stop sign, or adjacent to a bike lane. Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(e) (amended July 25, 2012). In addition, the ordinance provides:
"No operator of a mobile food vehicle shall park or stand such vehicle within 200 feet of any principal customer entrance to a restaurant which is located on the street level; provided, however, the restriction in this subsection shall not apply between 12 a.m. and 2 a.m." Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(f) (amended July 25, 2012).
"Restaurant" is defined as:
"[A]ny public place at a fixed location kept, used, maintained, advertised and *1265 held out to the public as a place where food and drink is prepared and served for the public for consumption on or off the premises pursuant to the required licenses. Such establishments include, but are not limited to, restaurants, coffee shops, cafeterias, dining rooms, eating houses, short order cafes, luncheonettes, grills, tearooms, and sandwich shops."Id.
There are two exceptions to the 200-foot requirement. The first exception allows food trucks to park at one of the five established food stands even if that stand is within 200-feet of the primary entrance of a restaurant. The second exception allows food trucks to park near construction sites and serve those sites.
¶ 10 Mobile food vendors are also subject to regulations designed to ensure safe food preparation and sanitary operations, including requirements for storage and plumbing equipment, food preparation, cleaning products, temperature control, and the presence of certified food service manager when food is prepared. Chicago Municipal Code §§ 7-38-132; 7-38-134 (added July 25, 2012). Each food truck must be linked to a commissary used daily for supplying, cleaning, and servicing. Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-138 (added July 25, 2012). The Chicago board of health (board) is authorized to enact rules and regulations to implement those requirements (Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-128 (added July 25, 2012)) and the department of public health conducts inspections. Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-126 (added July 25, 2012).
¶ 11 The ordinance also has a requirement concerning the use of GPS equipment on the food trucks. The ordinance provides:
"Each mobile food vehicle shall be equipped with a permanently installed functioning Global-Positioning-System (GPS) device which sends real-time data to any service that has a publicly-accessible application programming interface (API). For purposes of enforcing this chapter, a rebuttable presumption shall be created that a mobile food vehicle is parked at places and times as shown in the data tracked from the vehicle's GPS device." Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(l) (amended July 25, 2012)
The Board subsequently enacted "Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles." Rule 8 provides that the GPS device be permanently installed; be an " 'active,' " not " 'passive,' " device that sends real-time location data to a GPS provider; and be accurate no less than 95% of the time. Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(A)(1)-(3) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014), https://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/bacp/ general/MFV_Rules_and_Regulations-8-7-2014.pdf. The City claimed that the GPS requirement's purpose was so that it could locate food trucks in order to conduct field inspections and investigate public health complaints.
¶ 12 The rule further provides that the device must function during business operations and while at a commissary and transmit GPS coordinates to the GPS service provider at least once every five minutes. Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(A)(4)-(5) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014). The rule further provides that the City will not request GPS information without consent, a warrant, or court authorization unless the information is needed "to investigate a complaint of unsanitary or unsafe conditions, practices, or food or other products at the vehicle"; "to investigate a food-related threat to public health"; to "establish[h]
*1266 compliance with" the ordinance and regulations; or for "emergency preparation or response." Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(B) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014). Rule 8 also clarified that, while GPS providers must "be able to provide" an API "that is available to the general public," licensees need not "provide the appropriate access information to the API" unless the City establishes a website to display food truck locations and the licensee chooses to participate. Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(C)-(D) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014). The food truck "is not required to provide such information or otherwise allow the City to display the vehicle's location." Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(D) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014).
¶ 13 LMP filed this lawsuit on November 14, 2012, and later amended it on March 8, 2013, challenging both the 200-foot exclusion rule and GPS requirement. Its suit alleged that the 200-foot rule violated the due process and equal protection clauses of article I, section 2 of the Illinois Constitution and the GPS tracking scheme violated the search, seizures, privacy and interceptions clause of article I, section 6 of the Illinois Constitution. The City moved to dismiss the complaint in its entirety, and after briefing, the circuit court granted the City's motion with respect to LMP's equal protection claim but denied it as to the due process and search claims. The City then answered the amended complaint and the parties proceeded to discovery. The City set forth three reasons for imposing the 200-foot restriction: (1) balance the interests of brick-and-mortar restaurants with the food trucks, (2) encourage food trucks to locate in underserved areas, and (3) manage sidewalk congestion.
¶ 14 The parties engaged in an extensive discovery phase regarding the City's justification for the 200-foot rule and the GPS requirement. The City testified that the 200-foot rule applied "as the crow flies," radiating out 200 feet in all directions from a restaurant's front door. This means a food truck cannot park on the other side of the street or a block over if that position is within 200 feet of a restaurant's principal entrance. The rule also applies to a food truck parked on private property. Pekarik's testified that the 200-foot rule excluded her from many areas she would like to conduct business from in the Loop. As to the construction site exception, the City testified that trucks need only operate within proximity of the construction site, though it could not give a precise definition of "proximity."
¶ 15 Plaintiff hired expert witness, Renia Ehrenfeucht, a professor of urban planning and sidewalk usage, to conduct an observational study of seven different food truck locations across the northern portion of the Loop. Based on what her team observed, she reached two conclusions: (1) there was no observed difference in pedestrian congestion impacts based on the distance between a food truck's operations and a restaurant's front door and (2) there was no difference in the degree of pedestrian congestion at mobile food truck stand locations versus other public-private locations.
¶ 16 The City explained the need for the GPS requirement because it may be necessary to track a food truck's location to conduct a health or administrative investigation. The City admitted that it had never requested GPS data from any licensed food truck. In the few instances the City needed to find a truck, the field inspectors utilized social media to determine a food *1267 truck's location. Since the GPS requirement only applies while the food truck is in operation, the City admitted the GPS unit may need to be physically turned on by the truck operator.
¶ 17 At the close of discovery, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The circuit court ruled that rational-basis review applied to LMP's due process challenge to the 200-foot rule. Under this review, the circuit court upheld the 200-foot rule based on the City's argument that the rule balances the interests of brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks. The circuit court found the rule rationally related to the City's interest in managing sidewalk congestion. It rejected the argument that the rule helped spread food truck business to underserved sections of the city. As to the GPS requirement, the court determined LMP lacked standing to even challenge the provision because LMP failed to show its data had ever been requested by the City. The circuit court further explained that even if a search had taken place, the search was reasonable because the City's interest in food safety, the GPS data is necessary to find food trucks for purposes of inspection or notifications, and the rules limit the type of information and the circumstances under which the City will obtain it.
¶ 18 LMP timely appealed the circuit court's grant of summary judgment and this appeal now follows.
¶ 19 ANALYSIS
¶ 20 On appeal, LMP raises two issues: (1) the circuit court erred in concluding that the 200-foot rule does not violate its substantive due process rights, and (2) the circuit court erred in concluding the GPS requirement is not a search.
¶ 21 LMP's appeal arises from an order granting summary judgment in favor of the City upholding the validity of the 200-foot rule and the GPS requirement, our review is therefore
de novo
.
Progressive Universal Insurance Co. of Illinois v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
,
¶ 22 LMP alleges the 200-foot restriction violates its due process right under article I, section 2 of the Illinois Constitution, which protects the right of Illinoisans to pursue a legitimate occupation. In claiming a violation of its due process rights, LMP states in its amended complaint, "[t]his lawsuit seeks to vindicate the fundamental rights of the Plaintiffs, who own and operate mobile-vending vehicles, to earn an honest living free from unreasonable and anticompetitive government restrictions."
¶ 23 The fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution protect individuals from the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. U.S. Const., amend. XIV ; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2. Case law pertaining to due process recognizes two distinct due process analyses: substantive due process and procedural due process.
Doe v. City of Lafayette
,
*1268
In re Marriage of Miller
,
¶ 24 When a party claims a due process violation, a court "must first ascertain that a protected interest has been interfered with by the state. Then and only then does one consider what process is due."
Big Sky Excavating, Inc. v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co.
,
¶ 25 LMP frames the 200-foot rule as a means to suppress its economic rights in violation of article I, section 2, of the Illinois Constitution. The ordinance states in relevant part, "[n]o operator of a mobile food vehicle shall park or stand such vehicle within 200 feet of any principal customer entrance * * * which is located on the street level." Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(f) (amended July 25, 2012). In arguing that its due process right has been violated, LMP cites the accepted general principle that "every citizen has the right to pursue a trade, occupation, business or profession" and this right "constitutes both a property and liberty interest entitled to the protection of the law as guaranteed by the due process clauses of the Illinois and Federal constitutions."
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Services of Illinois, Inc. v. Clayton
,
¶ 26 The right to pursue a profession is not a fundamental right for substantive due process purposes, and the legislature's, or in this case the Chicago City council's, infringement on this right need only be examined using the rational basis test.
Potts v. Illinois Department of Registration & Education
,
¶ 27 The fact that the challenged provisions are part of an ordinance enacted by the City and not statutes enacted by the Illinois General Assembly is immaterial. Under the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the City is a home rule unit of local government. Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII, § 6. This provision of our constitution directly allows the City to "regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare." Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII, § 6 (a). Local governments granted home rule act with the same powers as the state unless specifically limited by the General Assembly.
City of Urbana v. Houser
,
¶ 28 While acknowledging the rational basis standard, LMP argues that under Illinois law, the rational basis test requires a "definite and reasonable relationship to the end of protecting the public health, safety and welfare."
*1269
Church v. State
,
"We clarify that the 'substantial relation' language used in cases addressing the validity of zoning regulations has been simply an alternate statement of the rational basis test which was tailored to address the specific interests advanced by the enactment of zoning ordinances, namely, the promotion of the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare." Id. at 315,322 Ill.Dec. 548 ,891 N.E.2d 839 .
In accordance with
Napleton
, we reject LMP's argument that in order to survive rational basis scrutiny, the challenged ordinance must have "a definite and substantial" relationship to a recognized police power. As stated by our supreme court in
Napleton
, a challenged zoning ordinance will survive rational basis scrutiny "if it bears a rational relationship to a legitimate legislative purpose and is neither arbitrary nor unreasonable."
Id.
at 319,
¶ 29 When Illinois courts apply the rational basis test, "a court must identify the public interest that the statute is intended to protect, examine whether the statute bears a reasonable relationship to that interest, and determine whether the method used to protect or further that interest is reasonable."
Arangold Corp. v. Zehnder
,
¶ 30 Like statues, ordinances are presumed constitutional, and the opposing party bears the burden of rebutting this presumption.
American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 31 v. State
,
¶ 31 When LMP challenged the 200-foot rule, the City responded with three government objectives the rule is meant to further (1) strike a balance between brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks, (2) spread retail food options to underserved areas of the City, and (3) control sidewalk congestion in the applicable areas. If any one of these justifications is found to be sufficient, the ordinance will be upheld as constitutional. In arguing for reversal before this court, LMP asserts the 200-foot rule is unconstitutional because it is blatant protectionism and protecting brick-and-mortar restaurants from food truck competition is not a legitimate government interest.
¶ 32 We reject LMP's assertion that the City may not protect brick-and-mortar restaurants and uphold the 200-foot rule as a rational means of promoting the general welfare of the City of Chicago. Both the City and its expert testified that brick-and-mortar restaurants bring critical economic benefits to communities, including the payment of property taxes. Unlike brick-and-mortar restaurants, LMP and all food trucks do not pay property taxes or other assorted fees to the City that would be associated with the operation of a brick-and-mortar restaurant occupying real property in the City. Property taxes represent a key source of revenue for the City. The 200-foot rule seeks to protect those in the food service industry who pay and support the City's property tax base from those food businesses that do not. Moreover, brick-and-mortar restaurants also pay utility taxes, lease taxes, and, yes, even restaurant taxes. Chicago Municipal Code §§ 3-30-030 (added Nov. 19, 2003) (restaurant tax); 3-32-030 (amended Oct. 28, 2015) (lease tax); 3-53-020 (added June 10, 1998) (electricity use tax); and 3-80-040 (added Sept. 14, 2016) (water and sewer tax).
¶ 33 Illinois courts have previously found that it is completely rational for an Illinois municipality to favor businesses generating tax dollars over businesses that do not. In
Napleton
, a challenged zoning change prohibited "new depository or nondepository credit institutions from being located on the first floor of any building in the B-1 or B-3 zoning district."
"[i]t was reasonable and legitimate for Hinsdale to conclude that the continued vitality of its business districts required an appropriate balance between businesses that provide sales tax revenue and those that do not, and its passage of the challenged amendments precluding new banks and financial institutions from locating on the ground floors of buildings in the designated districts because they impose an opportunity cost in forgone tax revenue is rationally related to that purpose." Id. at 321,322 Ill.Dec. 548 ,891 N.E.2d 839 .
In the same line of reasoning, it is reasonable and legitimate for the City to conclude that continued receipt of property taxes and other city fees associated with *1271 running a brick-and-mortar restaurant "required an appropriate balance" with those food businesses that do not.
¶ 34 This proposition is not new and has been accepted as a legitimate and reasonable government action by previous courts. In
City of New Orleans v. Dukes
, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged that the City of New Orleans may ban pushcart food vendors from the city's historic French Quarter.
¶ 35 In
Vaden v. Village of Maywood
, the Seventh Circuit, applying Illinois law, upheld as a legitimate and rational exercise of municipal authority, a Village of Maywood ordinance, which restricted mobile food vending near schools.
¶ 36 As LMP admits, it seeks to overturn the 200-foot rule because its main affect is to prevent it from parking in areas close to a restaurant's front door where large amounts of potential customers gather. Notwithstanding LMP's license, which granted them the privilege to conduct business on the City's streets and sidewalks, LMP fails to recognize that while one has a constitutional right to pursue a profession (
Rios v. Jones
,
¶ 37 The proposition that no individual has the constitutional property right to conduct business from the streets or sidewalks located within the state of Illinois has been reaffirmed several times since
Rhine
. In
Good Humor Corp. v. Village of Mundelein
,
*1272
Id.
at 259,
¶ 38 In
Triple A Services, Inc. v. Rice
,
¶ 39 In accord with
Rhine
,
Good Humor Corp.
, and
Triple A Services, Inc.
, we reiterate that no individual or business has a constitutional property right to use Chicago's streets and sidewalks for private gain. It is only through the issuance of a license that plaintiff may conduct business on the City streets. The issuance of said license did not create a vested property right but rather a "revocable privilege to do an act or a series of acts upon the land of another without possessing any estate or interest in such land."
Grigoleit, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of the Sanitary District of Decatur
,
¶ 40 While LMP points out the main thrust of the 200-foot rule is to prohibit street parking, it also points to at least two instances where the 200-foot rule prohibits it from operating on private property. Yet this fact does not render the 200-foot restriction unconstitutional. LMP has raised a facial challenge to the constitutionality of the 200-foot rule, and this court will only sustain a facial challenge "if no set of circumstances exists under which it would be valid."
Napleton
,
¶ 41 We also find all of the cases relied upon by LMP to be readily distinguishable from the facts of this case and do not
*1273
support a finding of facial invalidity. In attacking the 200-foot rule, LMP relies primarily on
Chicago Title & Trust Co. v. Village of Lombard
,
¶ 42
Chicago Title
is distinguishable for several other reasons.
Chicago Title
was decided before the 1970 Illinois Constitution and the implementation of home rule. As explained in
Triple A Services Inc.
, the home rule provision dramatically altered Chicago's authority, and it can now act with the "same powers as the sovereign."
Triple A Services, Inc.
,
¶ 43 LMP claims that
Chicago Title
stands for the proposition that proximity based restrictions that "promote monopoly" are inherently suspect. See
Chicago Title
,
*1274
¶ 44 LMP also argues that Illinois may not discriminate against two different business models and cites
Exchange National Bank of Chicago v. Village of Skokie
,
¶ 45 Exchange National , like Chicago Title , is a pre-1970 case and does not deal with home rule authority. This alone undercuts the weight to be given to it. Equally as important, the case simply does not support LMP's position. In making its argument, LMP willfully fails to recognize that it is not the same business as a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Unlike Exchange National , this is not a case where there are two similar business, one automated and one not, both seeking to permanently operate from private real property. LMP does not seek to permanently conduct its bakery business from a brick-and-mortar establishment in Chicago using automated techniques, and the 200-foot rule it seeks to invalidate does not prevent it from so doing. Accordingly, Exchange National does not support LMP's position.
¶ 46 The other cases relied upon by LMP also involved the use of private real property and are therefore distinguishable from the case currently before the court. A case relied upon by LMP,
Cosmopolitan National Bank v. Village of Niles
,
¶ 47 Based on the above, LMP has failed to establish that the 200-foot restriction is arbitrary and unreasonable as having no relation to the City's authority to promote its general welfare. Accordingly, the circuit court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the City as to the 200-foot restriction is affirmed. 4
¶ 48 LMP next argues the requirement that it install a GPS unit in its truck and transmit its location to a service provider represents a warrantless search in violation of article I, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution. Under the challenged municipal provision, each food truck "shall be equipped with a permanently installed functioning [GPS] device which sends real-time data to any service that has a publicly-accessible application programming interface."
*1275 Chicago Municipal Code § 7-38-115(l) (amended July 25, 2012). An applicable board of health rule explains that the GPS device need only transmit location data "while the vehicle is vending food or otherwise open for business to the public, and when the vehicle is being serviced at a commissary." Chicago Board of Health, Rules and Regulations for Mobile Food Vehicles, R. 8(A)(4) (eff. Aug. 7, 2014).
¶ 49 Section 6, of article I, of the Illinois Constitution states:
i. "The people shall have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and other possessions against unreasonable searches, seizures, invasions of privacy or interceptions of communications by eavesdropping devices or other means. No warrant shall issue without probable cause, supported by affidavit particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized." Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 6.
We note that "the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures under the Illinois Constitution is measured by the same standards as are used in defining the protections contained in the forth amendment to the United States Constitution."
People v. Thomas
,
¶ 50 LMP contends that the GPS requirement constitutes a "search" pursuant to
Jones
,
¶ 51 The Court reaffirmed this holing in
Florida v. Jardines
,
¶ 52 Based upon
Jones
,
Jardines
, and
Grady
, we reject LMP's claim that the
*1276
GPS requirement at issue constitutes a search. No search occurred because the City has not physically trespassed on LMP's property. The key issue in the Court's finding that a search had occurred in the above cases was the
state's physical occupation
of property (
Jones
,
¶ 53 Normally, our inquiry would not end with the above. Pursuant to
Katz v. United States
, a search may also occur when the government intrudes on an individual's "reasonable-expectation-of-privacy."
Jones
,
¶ 54 This case resembles
Grigoleit
,
¶ 55 We concluded that Grigoleit had no "constitutionally protected interest in the sewer connection and may not accept the privileges afforded by the license while simultaneously raising the fourth amendment as a bar to enforcement of the very conditions upon which extension of the license is predicated."
Id.
at 613,
¶ 56 The same logic applied by this court in
Grigoleit
applies equally well here. Grigoleit and all other dischargers had no constitutional right to discharge waste into the district's water network.
Id.
at 613,
*1277
Similarly, LMP and all food trucks have no constitutionally protected property right in conducting business from Chicago's streets or sidewalks.
Rhine
,
¶ 57 In view of the above, we affirm the circuit court's finding that the GPS requirement does not constitute a search within the meaning of the Illinois Constitution or the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution.
¶ 58 CONCLUSION
¶ 59 For the foregoing reasons, both the 200-foot restriction and the GPS requirement are constitutionally valid. The decision of the circuit court is affirmed.
¶ 60 Affirmed.
Presiding Justice Pierce and Justice Mikva concurred in the judgment and opinion.
LMP does not challenge the order of June 13, 2013, and has therefore forfeited review of its equal protection claim.
Lewanski v. Lewanski
,
The Loop is geographically defined as the downtown area of Chicago boarded by Lake Michigan to the east, the Chicago River to the north and west, and Congress Parkway to the south.
While the court discusses this in terms of equal protection, the court had previously noted that whether framed as a due process or equal protection challenge, rational basis review applied.
Vaden
,
Because we uphold the 200-foot rule as a reasonable exercise of the City's power to protect businesses paying property tax over those that do not, we decline to address whether the other proffered reasons would also support the constitutionality of the 200-foot restriction.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- LMP SERVICES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. the CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published