Competition or Cartel Control

Competition or Cartel Control? An Entrepreneur’s Fight for Fairness 

09/17 2013 by Jacob Huebert
Liberty Justice Center

 Should a city government be allowed to stop someone from starting a business just to protect established companies from competition? Should a city official be allowed to deny someone a license to start a business just because the official doesn’t consider the new business “desirable”?

Until this week, the city of Bloomington. IL had a law that allowed the local officials to do just that. Fortunately, a decision just issued by Judge Rebecca Foley of the McLean County Circuit Court has answered both of those questions with a resounding no.
The Liberty Justice Center, the Illinois Policy Institute’s public interest litigation center, brought a lawsuit last February on behalf of our client, Julie Crowe, who was denied a license to start a vehicle-for-hire business based on a local law that allowed city officials to keep new competitors out of the market to protect established businesses.
Judge Foley struck down that law for violating the Illinois Constitution. Her decision recognized that the government has no legitimate reason to exclude entrepreneurs like Ms. Crowe from competing. She also held that if the government is going to issue licenses for starting a business, the standards it applies must be — unlike Bloomington’s — clear, objective and fair.

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