Uetricht v. Chicago Parking Meters, LLC

The federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a lawsuit challenging an agreement in which the City of Chicago granted the defendant the exclusive right to operate and collect revenue from the City’s metered parking spaces for a 75-year period. The plaintiffs—who asserted federal antitrust claims and a claim under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act—alleged, among other things, that the agreement was made “without regard for changes in transportation resulting from climate change and the imperative need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The court found that the plaintiffs had standing based on alleged injuries from increased parking fees but that the state action immunity doctrine shielded the agreement from federal antitrust liability. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claim.

Three Chicago residents filed a lawsuit challenging an agreement under which the City of Chicago granted a private company “monopoly control over the City’s parking meter system for an astonishing 75-year-long period.” The plaintiffs alleged the agreement was made “without regard for changes in transportation resulting from climate change and the imperative need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” They also alleged that they faced loss or damage from paying for “an increasingly outmoded parking system” that “delays or inhibits the increased use or availability of better carbon free means of transportation.” They asserted that the agreement and the company’s monopoly control over City parking meters violated the Sherman Act and that the company’s operations under the agreement constituted an unfair trade practice in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act.