Carpentersville school bus parking headed to federal court

A lawsuit filed last month by a group of Carpentersville school bus drivers against the village over its heavy vehicle ordinance is moving to federal court at the request of the village's attorneys.

In a petition filed Friday, attorneys for the village asked the United States District Court for the Northern District to hear the case because the two counts cited in the complaint are civil actions that fall under the federal court's jurisdiction.

A Kane County judge last month granted five bus drivers for Barrington Unit District 220 who live in Carpentersville an emergency order of protection preventing the village from issuing citations for buses parked in driveways. A recent update to the village code prohibits any vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds from parking on public streets, alleys or driveways. The school buses, which are used to transports special needs students to and from school, exceed 14,000 pounds.

A status hearing on the temporary injunction was scheduled for Monday, but Kane County Judge Michael Colwell continued the matter to Oct. 5, 2010, due to the pending federal case.

Attorneys for Carpentersville would not comment on the lawsuit.

John Juergensmeyer, and Elgin attorney representing the bus drivers, called elevating the case to a higher court "a continuing success."

"I am encouraged by the federal court because I think it is a good place for the lawsuit. The major issues are federal," Juergensmeyer said. "The federal court will probably give it more attention than the state would. I am not being critical of the state, but the federal courts are generally more aggressive than state courts in defending civil liberties."

In the initial 14-page complaint, residents categorized the village's action in excluding school buses as "arbitrary, intentionally discriminatory against disabled persons, and had a disparate impact on disabled persons or created an undue hardship on disabled persons," all in violation of state and federal law. The bus drivers argued the ordinance violated the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Federal Equal Opportunity Act.