City's Administrative Hearing Practice Upheld
Stone Street Partners (SSP) sued the City of Chicago more than 5 years ago to challenge certain practices of the City's Department of Administrative Hearings relating to citations for ordinance violations. SSP was successful in overturning certain citations earlier this year, but the remaining claims continued. Recently, the Illinois appellate court upheld the City's citations against SSP and its administrative hearing process. Stone Street Partners v. City of Chicago, 2017 IL App (1st) 133159.
Chicago had cited SSP for violating a City ordinance that prohibited overflowing refuse containers. After being found in violation at an administrative hearing and fined for the violation, SSP challenged the entire proceeding in court, claiming that the City was engaging in the unauthorized practice of law because no attorney appeared for the City at the hearing. SSP also claimed that its due process rights were violated. The trial court dismissed most of the claims, and SSP appealed.
On appeal, the appellate court first determined that the City administrative law judge was not engaging in the unauthorized practice of law by overseeing the City's administrative hearings. The court also rejected SSP's argument that SSP's due process rights were violated because the administrative law judge allegedly served as the judge and prosecutor, finding that there was no evidence that the judge was predisposed against SSP. Finally, the court ruled against SSP on its argument that the City's practice of imposing the minimum fine for "plea bargains" but a higher fine for those who chose to move forward with the hearing amounted to a "trial tax."
Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf
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