O’Donnell v. City of Chicago

Plaintiffs filed a putative class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago and a towing company that works for the city alleging that the city’s vehicle forfeiture scheme was facially unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause and the Illinois constitution. Plaintiffs also brought a state-law unjust enrichment claim. The district court dismissed the lawsuit for failure to state a claim and plaintiffs appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the district court correctly determined that vehicle forfeiture under the city’s traffic code was not a taking. (SCUDDER and PRYOR, concurring)