Business Licenses and Permits

The city of Bloomington, Indiana is facing a lawsuit after denying a business license to a woman looking to start an operation to drive party-goers home from downtown.

Julie Crowe feels officials unfairly failed to approve her vehicle-for-hire application last year to drive a 15-passenger van, WJBC reported.

The law suit was filed on the grounds that the city violated Ms. Crowe’s due-process rights.

Officials claim that her license application was denied because a lack of funds would prevent the business from running properly and the downtown transportation market was already filled with competition.

However, Jacob Huebert, Ms. Crowe’s attorney, told the news provider that limiting competition is not a valid reason to deny a business license application.

“The only way to know how much of a service is needed, and what form that service should take, is to let entrepreneurs like Julie enter the market and see who succeeds and who fails,” he said.

What’s more, at the initial hearing Ms. Crowe was unable to cross-examine would-be competitors that spoke out against her application.

If the court finds in favor of Ms. Crowe, Bloomington could be forced to overturn its decision.

Tags: business license, business licenses, Indiana