Back Page wins restraining order against Cook County Sheriff

Back Page wins restraining order against Cook County Sheriff

7/24/2015 - Federal judge on Friday granted a temporary restraining order against Cook County Sheriff Tom D, forbidding him from lobbying credit card companies to block their cards from being used to buy ads on Backpage.com.

The order from U.S. District Judge comes days after the online classified ad site that is similar to Craigslist sued the Sheriff in federal court in Chicago, saying the sheriff's actions violated freedom of speech protections.

In issuing the order, Federal judge said Backpage had met its burden of showing it has "more than a negligible likelihood" of ultimately succeeding in its lawsuit and that it otherwise would suffer irreparable harm.

The order took effect immediately and will remain in effect for at least 10 days. A hearing date will be set next week for Backpage's request for a preliminary injunction.

The sheriff's office had no immediate comment.

The lawsuit also seeks a preliminary injunction requiring Sheriff D to write new letters to the credit card companies rescinding his previous statements, as well as punitive damages and compensation for lost revenue "to provide punishment and as deterrence."

Source: Chicago Tribune

Backpage credit card update
The judge scheduled an Aug. 20 hearing for lawyers for the sheriff and Backpage to make arguments and produce evidence before he decides whether to grant the preliminary injunction that would force the Sheriff to rescind the letters he sent the credit card companies.

An assistant state's attorney representing Cook County, said the county would request the credit card companies to produce their contracts with Backpage and could potentially seek to depose one Backpage official to make their case.

Other attempts to shut down Backpage's adult services section, including lawsuits brought against the website in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Tennessee, have failed.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in Boston threw out a lawsuit against Backpage that alleged that the website was designed to facilitate sex trafficking. The judge ultimately agreed with the company's — and digital rights groups' — argument that under federal law Web service companies are immune from liability for crimes by users.