IL: GPS monitoring of food trucks to keep them 200′ from restaurants was reasonable

The City of Chicago requires GPS monitoring of food trucks to make sure they stay 200′ away from a regular restaurant or in food truck zones is reasonably related to the city’s interest in promoting viability of restaurants in the city. It was not an unreasonable search under the state constitution. Moreover, food service qualifies as a heavily regulated industry under Burger. Indeed, the food trucks cannot claim a violation of a reasonable expectation of privacy because (1) the city has yet to seek GPS information, and (2) many food truck owners publicized their location on the internet to attract customers. The requirement they maintain the location data for six months doesn’t add anything to their claim. LMP Services, Inc. v. City of Chicago, 2019 IL 123123, 2019 Ill. LEXIS 658 (May 23, 2019):

¶ 33 The situation here is very different. The City requires food truck owners to install GPS devices on their vehicles as a condition of their license to operate on the streets of Chicago. The GPS device does not transmit the food truck’s location data directly to the City, nor does plaintiff allege that the City has ever obtained plaintiff’s location data from its service provider without obtaining a warrant. In fact, plaintiff admits that, at present, the City has never requested location data from any food truck’s service provider. In addition, plaintiff also admits that food trucks generally post their location on social media to attract customers. Thus, any expectation of privacy a food truck might have in their location is greatly diminished, if it exists at all.