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Date: 05-18-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 23-cv-259
Judge: Martha M. Pacold
Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Cook County)
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: John B. Murphey, Emily Frances Ottesen, Michael E. Kuvawa
Description: Chicago, Illinois civil rights lawyers represented Plaintiff, which sued Defendant challenging Defendant's special events ordinance and seeking an injunction.
Aurora Pride's lawsuit concerns both past and ongoing events. In part, the lawsuit concerns the 2022 Aurora Pride Parade. In 2022, the city temporarily revoked Aurora Pride's permit and charged Aurora Pride certain police overtime costs, for which Aurora Pride seeks damages and declaratory relief. In part, the lawsuit challenges the ongoing application of certain provisions of Aurora's special events ordinance. The ordinance establishes special event permit application requirements. Aurora Pride has applied for a permit for a June 11, 2023 Pride Parade. The lawsuit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against the application of various provisions of the ordinance. This decision addresses only the request for a preliminary injunction.
The special events ordinance is Chapter 41.5 of the Aurora Code of Ordinances. The ordinance defines “special event” (as relevant) as “an organized, nonpermanent, public or private gathering that utilizes public spaces, such as public roads, greenways, city services and public parks or plazas.” Aurora Code o
Ordinances § 41.5-102(bb).[1] Special events include events of a variety of sizes and types. They include parades but also include (for example) festivals, races, carnivals, musical events, and film production. They “range from small neighborhood-level events to large-scale productions.” § 41.5-100(a).
Aurora amended its special events ordinance on January 24, 2023. Thus, the current ordinance (also called the 2023 ordinance or the amended ordinance), which applies to the pending 2023 permit application, differs from the prior version of the ordinance, which applied to the 2022 parade. The preliminary injunction motion concerns only the current (2023) ordinance. The background discussion below provides an overview of the salient provisions of the current ordinance.
Nonetheless, the 2022 parade provides context for the preliminary injunction motion and some of the terms of and amendments to the 2023 ordinance. Thus, the background discussion begins by addressing the 2022 parade.
The parties conducted expedited discovery in preparation for the preliminary injunction hearing. But full discovery has not yet been conducted. The background discussion below thus does not preclude the parties from further factual development during merits discovery.
Pride v. City of Aurora (N.D. Ill. 2023)
Outcome: Injunction granted in part and denied in part.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: