Service station owners in Oak Park appear to have come to terms with the village’s ban on overnight operations at gas stations.
After the village passed an ordinance last September barring gas stations and convenience stores from being open 24 hours, some owners of those kinds of businesses sued.
The gas station owners’ legal action against the village was dismissed in Cook County court several months ago, and after several gas stations were cited by Oak Park police for violating the ban, village officials say that no further citations have been issued of late.
It all adds up to the gas station operators now having reached the acceptance phase of the village’s law, which was approved in response to the last-straw, fatal shooting at a 24-hour gas station in June 2022 of an 18-year-old who had just graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School. There had also been other violent crimes that had taken place outside all-night gas stations.
Village officials revealed last year that there had been 18 violent offenses at gas stations in Oak Park between the start of 2019 and July 2022, of which 13 had taken place between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The no-overnight operation ban sparked a lawsuit against the village that was filed in Cook County Circuit Court Chancery Division by the owners of seven gas stations, including six of the eight all-night ones that were operating in Oak Park at the time.
Both at Village Board meetings and in the lawsuit, the gas station owners had argued that the law was excessive and could cause the loss of anywhere from 15% and 35% of the stations’ total sales, and gas station owners also noted that the law could jeopardize their agreements with fuel suppliers, which mandate remaining open 24 hours a day.
A temporary restraining order initially blocked the village from enforcing the ordinance, and amid questions about other kinds of businesses remaining open, trustees in November expanded the ban to include convenience stores from being open all night.
Ultimately, a judge dismissed the gas station owners’ lawsuit in March, and they decided not to appeal that decision.
“(My clients) are losing so much money,” said attorney John Ellis, who represented the gas station owners. “The idea of an amended appeal was not something they wanted to do. You can fight City Hall, but not for very long.”
Earlier this year, two different BP gas stations in Oak Park were issued citations by Oak Park police and ultimately fined for selling gas during what the village has defined as overnight hours, or between midnight and 5 a.m.
Since that time, however, the village has issued no citations to gas stations violating the ban, village spokesman Erik Jacobsen told Pioneer Press.
Meanwhile, another lawsuit involving all-night gas stations is continuing. The family of Jailyn Logan Bledsoe, the 18-year-old woman who was robbed and shot to death outside a BP gas station in June 2022, has a lawsuit pending in Cook County Circuit Court against Hargobind Inc., which owns that gas station.
Attorney Karen Munoz, who represents Bledsoe’s mother, LaDonna Logan Bryant, told Pioneer Press that Hargobind had filed several motions to dismiss the suit, and that both parties are in the process of filing responses regarding Hargobind’s most recent motion to dismiss. The judge is expected to rule on that motion in September.
Daljit Singh, president of Hargobind, could not be reached for comment.
Goldsborough is a freelancer.
