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7th Circuit Cuts Off Challenge to Chicago Cell Phone Ban
The National Law Journal
August 17, 2009
Chicago cell phone users fighting to fend off a city ordinance that bars them from driving and chatting on their phone without a hands-free device have lost another round.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a decision Thursday (pdf) agreed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that the class action mounting a constitutional challenge to the 2005 city law "has no legs." And by the way, that law also precludes texting and surfing the Internet while driving, the court noted.
"The district court was right: this case has no legs whatever," a unanimous decision written by Judge Diane Wood said.
The District Court last year ruled that the plaintiffs had no real constitutional argument, despite claims under the Fourth and 14th amendments, to justify their 2007 lawsuit and that a proposed attempt to modify the suit would be frivolous. The plaintiffs, all of whom had been ticketed for violating the law, appealed the decision late last year.
"We're happy to be able to enforce this ordinance because we think it's a good thing for the city," said Chris Norborg, an assistant corporation counsel in the appeals division of the city's law department, who argued before the appellate court. "Our legislative findings pretty much establish that any type of use is going to result in increased risk."
The plaintiffs attorney, Blake Horwitz of Chicago-based Horwitz, Richardson & Baker, said his clients will not appeal the decision. Still, he called it an important battle to fight, partly because Chicago's ordinance is different from those of surrounding municipalities and because there was little notice to drivers of the law.
"We feel very strongly that people have a right to know in advance that they're committing some sort of infraction," Horwitz said.
