Ordinance Interpretation – Jurisdiction

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Keep Chicago Livable, et al. v. City of Chicago

Case No.: 17-1656; 17-2846

Officials: FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Ordinance Interpretation – Jurisdiction

An organization known as Keep Chicago Livable and six individuals challenge the constitutionality of Chicago’s Shared Housing Ordinance. The City passed the Ordinance in 2016 to regulate home-sharing activities, including services offered by companies like Airbnb. The district court denied a request for a preliminary injunction on certain claims and later dismissed without prejudice the remaining claims from an amended complaint. These two appeals then followed. We now vacate the district court’s decisions, as we cannot say with any confidence that any named plaintiff—Keep Chicago Livable or any of the six individuals—has pleaded or otherwise established sufficient injury to confer the subject matter jurisdiction necessary to proceed to the merits of any claim.

We have before us an organization and individuals with strongly-held views about the constitutionality of the City’s Ordinance, but Article III of the Constitution requires more: our authority is limited to deciding cases or controversies between adverse litigants, and without a clear indication that at least one named plaintiff has an actual or imminent injury, we have no authority to go further. So we remand to the district court to make a determination of standing and to proceed if and as appropriate from there.

Vacated and Remanded

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.