Rossidoc LLC v. The City of Chicago

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ROSSIDOC LLC, d/b/a The Irish Nobleman, an Illinois limited liability company; and ARMITAGE BARS, INC., d/b/a Chicago Bar Shop, Plaintiffs, v. THE CITY OF CHICAGO, a municipal Corporation, and DANIEL LA SPATA, an individual, Defendants.

No. 23 C 13410

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division

May 24, 2024

OPINION AND ORDER

SARA L. ELLIS, United States District Judge

Defendant Daniel La Spata, the Alderman for the City of Chicago's 1st Ward, exercised his aldermanic prerogative to deny Plaintiff Rossidoc LLC's, d/b/a The Irish Nobleman (“The Irish Nobleman”), application for an extended outdoor dining area in 2023. The Irish Nobleman and its sister company, Plaintiff Armitage Bars, Inc., d/b/a Chicago Bar Shop (the “Bar Shop”), contend that La Spata did so because of Plaintiffs' criticisms of him and their support for his political opponents. After La Spata denied the permit, Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against him and Defendant City of Chicago, alleging that Defendants violated their equal protection and due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and retaliated against them in violation of their First Amendment rights. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the first amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (6). While Plaintiffs' claims are ripe for review and a basis exists to hold the City liable, the Court agrees with Defendants that the Bar Shop has not alleged a violation of its rights so as to continue as a Plaintiff in this case. As for The Irish Nobleman, it has sufficiently alleged a First Amendment retaliation claim but cannot proceed with its equal protection or due process claims.

BACKGROUND^[1]

I. Aldermanic Prerogative

In the City, aldermanic prerogative refers to an alderperson's ability to initiate or block City Council or other government action concerning their own ward. The prerogative is unwritten, exercised at the alderperson's discretion. In the context of a 2019-2023 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) investigation into affordable housing practices in the City, alderpersons defended the prerogative as being “necessary to ensure that local concerns are considered in development decisions.” Id. ¶ 19. HUD's investigation, however, indicated that the “Council routinely shows unquestioning deference to local aldermen even in the absence of any articulated local concern, and even where concerns are clearly invoked as pretext to block integrative affordable housing.” Id. Former City Mayor Lori Lightfoot attempted to end the prerogative noting that the practice “breeds corruption” and was not “in the city's interest.” Doc. 15 ¶ 12. But only once during Mayor Lightfoot's tenure did the City Council vote to defy the prerogative.

II. The City's Expanded Outdoor Dining Program

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic's limitations on indoor dining, in the summer of 2020, the City launched a pilot expanded outdoor dining (“EOD”) program, which initially closed six streets off to traffic around the City, allowing local restaurants to expand their operations by offering socially distanced outdoor seating options. In 2021, the City extended the EOD program and, in 2023, made it a permanent feature. Those restaurants and bars interested in obtaining an EOD permit must apply annually, with an issued permit valid from May 1 to October 31 of the year of issuance. An applicant submits the application to the Commissioner of Transportation, after which the Commissioner reviews the application for compliance with the EOD ordinance rules. The EOD ordinance provides the following procedure if the Commissioner concludes that the application is complete:

[T]he Commissioner shall provide the application to the alderman of the affected ward. The alderman shall provide a recommendation to the Commissioner regarding the application within 30 days of receiving it, unless, the Commissioner determines that good cause exists for a reasonable extension, not to exceed 30 days. The recommendation regarding the application shall be based upon the alderman's analysis of the requirements of this article and the rules promulgated in furtherance of the article. Such recommendation shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Commissioner shall issue the Outdoor Dining Street Permit to the applicant if the Commissioner finds that the applicant meets the applicable requirements and the alderman's recommendation is that the permit application should be approved. If the Commissioner finds that the applicant meets the applicable requirements, but the alderman recommends that the permit application should be denied, the applicant, with the assistance of the Department of Transportation [“CDOT”], may submit for City Council consideration an applicant-sponsored ordinance granting approval of an Outdoor Dining Street Permit.

MCC § 10-28-593(b).

III. Plaintiffs' Businesses

The Irish Nobleman operates a bar and restaurant of the same name at 1367 W. Erie Street, located in the City's 1st Ward, which La Spata represents. The Irish Nobleman's principal, who lives in the 1st Ward, also owns and runs the Bar Shop, which provides bars and restaurants with interior design and operational services. The Bar Shop also helps its clients comply with state and local requirements. At some point, Plaintiffs' principal explained the Bar Shop's functions and operations to La Spata.

The Irish Nobleman has a retail food establishment license and a tavern license, which allow it to serve food and alcohol on its premises. In addition to its interior space, the Irish Nobleman has a patio and sidewalk cafe. The City's requirements for a sidewalk cafe permit include that the cafe be located only on the sidewalk, have a boundary fully enclosing the permitted area that separates it from the remainder of the public way, and have a six-foot clearance for pedestrians along the sidewalk. The Irish Nobleman obtained a sidewalk cafe permit in 2020 and has operated the sidewalk cafe in compliance with City requirements and without any violations or infractions.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly hindered The Irish Nobleman's business operations. To maintain its business during the initial closures, it converted its dining room into a walk-up ice cream and concession stand window. This, however, angered La Spata, who came into The Irish Nobleman in the summer of 2020 asking staff something along the lines of “who said you could open an ice cream shop in my ward?” Id. ¶¶ 39-40. Despite The Irish Nobleman's principal informing La Spata that its retail food establishment license covered and allowed for the sale of ice cream, La Spata continued to ask how The Irish Nobleman sold ice cream and who allowed it. This turned out to be The Irish Nobleman's first, but not last, encounter with La Spata.

In addition to having to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Irish Nobleman saw increased crime in its surrounding area over the summer of 2020. In response, Plaintiffs' principal reached out to La Spata's ward office to inquire about placing speed bumps around the bar because drag racing had become prevalent on the surrounding streets. At the suggestion of La Spata's office, Plaintiffs began gathering signatures to support such an initiative, ultimately presenting La Spata with a petition with roughly 1,000 signatures. But La Spata refused to accept the petition because it was “not on [his] letterhead forms.” Id. ¶ 48. Plaintiffs' principal also made claims on social media about the high level of crime in the neighborhood during La Spata's brief tenure. An October 2020 Block Club Chicago article quoted Plaintiffs' representatives about crime in the neighborhood, the need for speed bumps, and their desire to see the City address their safety complaints.

Following these criticisms, La Spata's office began contacting Plaintiffs' principal almost weekly, complaining that The Irish Nobleman's customers were excessively loud during televised sporting events and that its neighbors had complained and were “irate.” Id. ¶ 51. Plaintiffs' principal agreed to meet with the neighbors, but La Spata's office did not provide their identities or coordinate a meeting, leading Plaintiffs to believe that La Spata fabricated the complaints to silence Plaintiffs' principal about the increased crime in the area.

In addition, The Irish Nobleman found itself the subject of increased inspections, with one City inspector remarking that he had “never seen so many inspections on a single restaurant in such a short period of time.” Id. ¶ 55. Multiple inspectors indicated that they conducted the inspections at La Spata's office's behest. In the summer of 2021, over twenty-seven unscheduled inspections took place at The Irish Nobleman. These inspections often caused The Irish Nobleman's operations to come to a halt until the inspections concluded.

IV. Plaintiffs' Principal's Support for La Spata's Political Opponents

In addition to his outspokenness about crime in the 1st Ward, Plaintiffs' principal publicly supported La Spata's political opponents. Beginning in 2022, Plaintiffs' principal openly supported two candidates running against La Spata in the City's February 1, 2023 election by hosting fundraisers at The Irish Nobleman and allowing opposing candidates to leave campaign signs there. Plaintiffs' principal informed La Spata of his support for the other candidates at some point in 2022 but also offered La Spata the opportunity to post signs and hold fundraisers at The Irish Nobleman.

In July or August 2022, The Irish Nobleman announced on social media and in community groups and forums to which La Spata belonged that it would host a fundraiser for one of La Spata's opponents. Approximately thirty minutes after the...