A federal judge sided with a group of convenience store owners this week and granted them a temporary restraining order against Toledo’s new law requiring the business to be licensed for $250 a year and install security cameras, the Toledo Blade reported.
U.S. District Judge James Carr granted the motion after three convenience store owners testified against the new law, and a full hearing is planned for a later date.
A group of Toledo c-store owners decided in April to challenge the city’s law, which also mandated that they turn over surveillance video to police. Toledo City Council approved the measure late last year, the newspaper reported.
Attorney Scott Ciolek told the newspaper the law is unconstitutional and will force some stores out of business; he filed a complaint two months ago in U.S. District Court on behalf of the Midwest Retailers Association, seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against the ordinance.
Ciolek said the stores being targeted are in poor neighborhoods, "and they are the only ones that serve poor neighborhoods."