Call

Blog

Law
02

Blog

Chicago Bike Shop Continues Fight Against Wealthy Condo Owners

Big City Bikes

Bike City Bikes, Courtesy Google Street View, November 2015

 

There are things the world needs less of.  Poverty.  Traffic.  Condominiums.

Bike shops would not make the list.  Fixers and sellers of bicycles are folks who only the most irascible curmudgeon would wish to see fewer in number.  Yet, battle lines have been drawn in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood between the owners of high end condominiums and a bike shop owner whose store occupies the ground floor of the building.  Recently I spoke with the owner of Big City Bikes, Saurabh Patel, who is fighting for his shop’s financial life.  Before opening Big City in the summer of 2015, Saurabh asked the residential owners of the building at 2425 North Ashland Avenue to remove awnings in front of the commercial space.  He wanted the awnings gone in order to enhance the visibility of his shop’s signage.  Also, he felt that they were in disrepair, creating a safety hazard.  The residents, through their condo association refused.  Saurabh hired an attorney to make sure that he was within his rights to go ahead and remove the awnings.  He was, so he did.  The condominium residents sued him, threatening the shop’s existence.  The matter is presently pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County.  Saurabh’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the case and both sides are presently submitting written briefs.  The circuit court’s website does not state a hearing date for the dismissal motion, but it appears that all briefs have now been submitted to the court.  It seems likely that the judge will render a decision sometime this summer.

Big City Bikes’s focus is on single and fixed gear bikes that students and other young adults with modest budgets can afford.  The retail shop remains open for business.  But it is a struggle.  In January DNAinfo.com profiled the shop and its current legal troubles.  Saurabh told me that he appreciated the publicity but that despite the media outlet’s good intentions, the story gave the impression that Big City is closing.  “We’re not shutting down,” Saurabh said.  “We’re still open for business.”  The legal bills are taking a big toll though.  Though he and his attorneys feel confident that they are in the right, it is costing a lot of money to prove it.  He has had to pay his attorney thousands to defend his rights.  That’s a rough start for any new business, let alone a bike shop where profit margins are modest.

Through all of this Saurabh remains hopeful.  His primary reason for contacting me (our law firm has no involvement in the case) was to say that Big City will continue.  How many folks would have caved in to the wealthy condo owners?  Saurabh vows to fight on to continue living his dream of owning and running a bike shop.

Comments

Ann Groninger Jan 04, 2024

Many of our cycling clients find themselves having to interact with the criminal justice system. Typically, it’s because the driver who hits them (or their family member) is charged with a crime or traffic offense. Occasionally bicyclists themselves are charged with traffic offenses! Every state’s criminal laws are different, but there is a lot of […]

Read More
Bike Crash Road Defect Georgia
Peter Wilborn Jun 14, 2023

We recently shared the story of a trial victory from the State of Texas where a bicyclist was injured due to a defect in a road maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas Road Defect   We now can tell the story of another huge win in a road defect case, this time from […]

Read More
Road defect dangerous to cyclists
Charlie Thomas Mar 14, 2023

Recently, attorneys with the Bike Law network took a case to a trial against a titan of a defendant: the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT was represented by the Attorney General’s Office, one of Texas’ largest legal teams. We had a great client, but it was a tough case to prove. So tough, in fact, […]

Read More
bike path charlotte
Ann Groninger Jan 13, 2023

  2023 got off to a rough start for Charlotte, North Carolina, particularly in the context of road safety. Within about a week, we lost a young woman who was riding her bicycle, a pedestrian killed in the same area of town, and four people were killed in a car wreck on I-85 in the […]

Read More
North Carolina Bike Crash
Ann Groninger Dec 06, 2022

Unless you’re a very recent follower of ours, you’ve heard us talk before about “contributory negligence.” To recap: “pure contributory negligence” is the law in North Carolina and only 3 other states (Alabama, Virginia, Maryland). In pure contributory negligence states, if a person is injured by someone else’s fault and the injured person contributes even […]

Read More
Is It Illegal to Ride Your Bike on the Sidewalk bikelaw
Peter Wilborn Aug 01, 2022

The laws dictating whether you can ride your bike on the sidewalk differ depending where you live. Different states have different laws on this matter, and local ordinances also vary. Let’s take a look at the legal framework behind various state laws related to cycling on sidewalks. The laws of sidewalk-riding can be very complicated […]

Read More
Ebike crash
Bruce Hagen Apr 26, 2022

DRIVER ON METH KILLS 17 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST, BARROW COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY REFUSES TO CHARGE DRIVER WITH FELONY.   On August 23, 2020, at approximately 8:40pm, 17-year old Obianuju Osuegbu was on her way home from her summer job working at a grocery store. She had earned enough money that summer to buy herself a […]

Read More
Stop as Yield
Brian Weiss Apr 25, 2022

Finally, “Stop As Yield” (the much sought after common sense traffic law for bicyclists) is coming to Colorado in 2022, likely July 1st.   Stop as Yield, aka the “Safety Stop” After the Governor Polis signs the law and the Safety Stop becomes effective, anyone who rides a bicycle or scooter on public roads will […]

Read More
Contributory Negligence
Ann Groninger Apr 25, 2022

It took losing at trial and a long appellate process, but it ended in a blow to contributory negligence in North Carolina. We just won an appeal on a bicycle crash case that happened in 2016 and came to us in 2018. The case went to trial during the spring of 2021. Our client was […]

Read More
Load More