In Might, Cause wrote about Steven Hedrick, a resident of Vacation Island, Arkansas, who rents out roll-away dumpsters. Renters get a dumpster delivered, which they fill, and Hedrick hauls it away. Enterprise was good—till April 2022, when the Vacation Island Metropolis Council handed Ordinance 2022-004, mandating that residents and companies use Carroll County Strong Waste (CCSW) for all trash pickup and disposal providers.
Final week, Hedrick filed a lawsuit in opposition to town within the Carroll County Circuit Courtroom on behalf of himself and his enterprise, X-Dumpsters, claiming that the availability violates the state structure.
The lawsuit says that Hedrick presents “totally different and supplementary” providers and doesn’t compete with CCSW’s weekly trash pickup service. Hedrick initially believed that as a county-licensed stable waste hauler who does not present weekly trash pickup, the ordinance didn’t apply to his enterprise. However the metropolis mentioned in any other case, and he obtained a number of notices threatening him with citations if he offered any additional providers inside Vacation Island. Letters from the mayor and town’s code enforcement officer “asserted that the presence of his dumpsters on property not his personal was adequate to violate the Ordinance.”
Since receiving the letters, Hedrick has ceased working in Vacation Island, renting solely to county residents exterior town. In Might, Hedrick instructed Cause that he was turning down “two or three jobs per week” as a result of ordinance. Worse nonetheless, he felt a “ethical obligation” to refer them to his competitor although CCSW “will not be immediate with their deliveries.”
In a video produced by the Goldwater Institute, the free market public coverage and litigation group that’s representing him, Hedrick mentioned this was “probably the most irritating half,” that “I’ve acquired to ship my enterprise to my competitor that is really acquired their boot on my neck.”
In his lawsuit, Hedrick contends that the ordinance constitutes a monopoly, which “violates the anti-monopoly clause and the due course of clause of the Arkansas Structure.” Article II, Part 19 of the Arkansas Structure states that monopolies “are opposite to the genius of a republic, and shall not be allowed.” Goldwater Institute employees legal professional Adam Shelton instructed Cause in Might that whereas the state can require folks to make use of a specific trash pickup service, “what the federal government cannot do is say that that particular person has the unique proper to gather all stable waste, and no different particular person or no different enterprise entity can gather stable waste within the metropolis.”
After the ordinance handed, Mayor Dan Kees wrote in a weblog submit that it was crucial “to mitigate the rising drawback of unlawful dumping in Vacation Island” since “the Metropolis doesn’t have the assets to oversee the operations of a number of different haulers.” However Hedrick’s lawsuit says that he’s licensed by the county and “is in good standing.” It additional contends that Vacation Island has not offered “any rational connection to the general public well being, security, welfare, or normal prosperity” to justify the monopoly.
An e-mail to Kees requesting remark obtained an out-of-office reply that referred senders to a different metropolis official, who had not responded by press time.
Hedrick is in search of a declaratory judgment discovering the ordinance unconstitutional and an injunction in opposition to its enforcement. Previous that, he solely seeks nominal damages, legal professional’s charges, and the liberty to proceed his work. In accordance with the lawsuit, he “merely desires to supply Vacation Island residents dependable and inexpensive ad-hoc stable waste removing service.”
“If it is not one thing that’s inflicting harm or hurt to others,” Hedrick says, “you should not need to ask permission to place meals in your desk.”
