Suburban Express Sued By Illinois Attorney General For Behaving Like Suburban Express

from the home-to-roost dept

Tue, May 1st 2018 3:29pm — Timothy Geigner

We've talked quite a bit about Surban Express in these pages. The bus company chiefly works the Illinois university circuit, bussing students and others between the schools and transportation hubs like O'Hare Airport. In addition, the company also regularly sues any customers critical of its services, occasionally runs away from those suits, then refiles them, all while owner Dennis Toeppen harasses and publicly calls out these customers on the company website and its social media accounts. Also, the company has a deep history of treating non-white customers differently and poorly than others, culminating in a recent advertisement it sent out promising riders that they won't feel like they're in China when on its buses (the University of IL has a sizable Asian student population). After that advertisement, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced an investigation into the company's practices, prompting Suburban Express to apologize several times for the ad.

Well, if Toeppen had hoped those apologies would keep the AG at bay, it didn't work. Madigan has now sued the company in Chicago for discriminatory behavior and the mistreatment of its customers.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, seeks a restraining order against the company to stop it from publishing customers’ financial information, halt harassment and prevent the company from forcing riders to accept unfair contract terms. If the company does not change its practices, Madigan said, the attorney general wants the company out of business.

The company’s actions, Madigan said, constitute “flagrant and numerous violations” of Illinois’ civil rights and consumer protection laws.

“My lawsuit alleges that Suburban Express has long been engaged in illegal discrimination and harassment of college students in Illinois, particularly University of Illinois students and their families,” Madigan said at a morning news conference at the Thompson Center to announce the lawsuit.

Among the allegations is that Suburban Express harasses its critics, publishes some of their financial information in an attempt to shame them, discriminates against customers based on their race, and generally tries to make the lives of anyone that doesn't love the services they get a living hell. All of this followed a months-long investigation into the actions of the company and Toeppen himself.

In response, Suburban Express posted to its Facebook page that it merely defends itself against lying critics, before suggesting how awesome it is.

"Defending ourselves against online harrassment (sic) does not constitute harrassment (sic) of the harrasser. (sic) The complaint seems to demonstrate a lack of any sense of humor on the part of Attorney General Madigan. Tongue in cheek posts like the picture of bowing passengers cannot reasonably be inferred to mean that we have something against certain customers."

“The world is a better place as a result of Suburban Express. … We take this unfounded assault on our reputation seriously and we intend to defend this lawsuit vigorously,” the post concluded. “We’d love to hear from attorneys interested in defending us against this lawsuit.”

What attorneys will rush to the side of a company that has so clearly demonstrated exactly who and what it is will be interesting to watch. Part of Suburban Express' problem is that it engaged in so much of this harassment online, where the slate can never be truly scrubbed, and with which the AG will be able to present the court with the company's own words and actions.

Given the long history of public behavior by the company, it's hard to imagine how any of this goes well for it.

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Filed Under: dennis toppen, discrimination, illinois, lisa madigan
Companies: suburban express

25 Comments

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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 3:45pm

"has long been engaged in illegal discrimination and harassment"

And we're just finally getting around to doing something about it now because mid-terms.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 3:49pm

(sic)
Sometimes I read that as 'sick' in reference to the previous statement, rather than a notation with regards to a misspelling in the original text. Sometimes I'm right.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 3:52pm

Time will tell
I suspect that there is a bystander willing to snap up this company and run it legitimately, but are waiting for its current owner to fsck up sufficiently to run it into bankruptcy (something that may or may not be likely, but does seem probable) when they will be able to pick it up for a song. And maybe, if negotiated correctly, without any current debt.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2018 @ 4:20pm

"Defending ourselves against online harrassment (sic) does not constitute harrassment (sic) of the harrasser."

Immediately starts to harass the AG in the very next sentence.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2018 @ 4:58pm

Re: Time will tell
Honestly, self-driving buses will open up the entire country to computer optimized revolutions. Antagonizing companies like this one are just a liability and will be avoided while their core business is undercut.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2018 @ 5:03pm

About time
So it only took the AG office 5 years to go after a company that preyed upon college students? Sadly, all of the students who were originally harassed (sic) have finished school by now....
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byte^me (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 5:12pm

More to come
As someone who lives in Champaign and works for the University of Illinois, I have been following events with this company for a while.

Things continue to get interesting. Suburban Express has agreed to a temporary restraining order.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-04-27/update-judge-approves-temporary-restraining- order-suburban-express.html

Something tells me I'm going to be enjoying lots of popcorn in the near future as I watch how this all plays out.
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Canuck, 1 May 2018 @ 5:43pm

Too little, too late?
As others have noted, it took far too long for the government to get off its ass and do something. Many victims will see no benefit from this suit. Let's hope that the penalty actually hurts this guy.

As happens far too often, when the government (finally) does something right, it's for the wrong reasons.
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JoeCool (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 5:47pm

Clearly

What attorneys will rush to the side of a company that has so clearly demonstrated exactly who and what it is will be interesting to watch.

They'll have plenty of attorneys... with one requirement: cash up front.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2018 @ 5:58pm

Re: Time will tell
"I suspect that there is a bystander willing to snap up this company and run it legitimately, but are waiting for its current owner to fsck up sufficiently to run it into bankruptcy"

Kind of like Denny's?

http://www.blackenterprise.com/if-you-cant-beat-em-buy-em/
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Kal Zekdor (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 8:57pm

Re: About time
That moment when you mean to intentionally misspell a word to poke fun at someone, but don't realize that you've subconsciously corrected the spelling until after posting.

I've been there, AC, I've been there.
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That One Guy (profile), 1 May 2018 @ 11:00pm

When your own advertisements can be used against you
Tongue in cheek posts like the picture of bowing passengers cannot reasonably be inferred to mean that we have something against certain customers."

Oh no, of course not. Advertisements with lines like 'Passengers like you. You won't feel like you're in China when you're on our buses' followed by a laughably bad 'apology' on the other hand...
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David, 2 May 2018 @ 12:23am

Re:
Not in the next sentence only. This sentence promotes self-justice, and the judicial system takes a rather dim view towards people taking justice into their own hands and promoting the laws of the Wild West.
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tp, 2 May 2018 @ 12:29am

Ads are serious business
Proper companies are thinking their customer base before sending offending adverticements to the public's consumption. All offending material needs to be filtered out before proceeding with the adverticements. Otherwise there's no point in sending the ads.

Also, ads are important also because the company takes responsibility if something bad happens because of the published material. It's similar to the logo of the company, i.e. it represents the values and principles attached to the company in question.

If their adverticements directly attack non-white population, then the company values are not in good shape and the company has no reason to exist in the world. It's perfectly ok to sue companies like this, if their message to the world is this well thought out.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2018 @ 4:10am

Getting the popcorn ready.
In this instance, I wish that companies could file pro-se; it would no doubt bring even more amusement and schadenfreude with all the wacky filings it would produce.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2018 @ 4:32am

They're asshats, so what?
So, sure, the company is totally in the wrong. Certainly if they publish any personal information about their customers they should be punished.

On the other hand, as most of this seems to be about how their objectionable behavior towards customers, the established American way to resolve this is to create a competitor that does better. Customers will flock to the new business because it operates in a more amenable manner, and the "bad" one will eventually go out of business.

This is how the "democracy" part of our system is supposed to work. We can vote with our dollars to directly influence how businesses operate. The fact that it took the government 5 years to even take action is actually an example of why we shouldn't be relying strictly on this kind of resolution to our problems.
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wshuff (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 6:30am

“We’d love to hear from attorneys interested in defending us against this lawsuit.”

Where are Steele and Hansmeier when you need them?
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rrb admit card (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 6:52am

It's Very late
As others have noted, it took far too long for the government to get off its ass and do something. Many victims will see no benefit from this suit. Let's hope that the penalty actually hurts this guy.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2018 @ 7:06am

What attorneys will rush to the side of a company that has so clearly demonstrated exactly who and what it is will be interesting to watch.

I'd suggest Marc Randazza, but he seems to limit his practice to actual Nazis, and I don't think Suburban Express's casual racism is anywhere near hateful enough to qualify.
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JoeCool (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 7:39am

Re: Ads are serious business
Ads are serious. I've heard time and again "there's no such thing as bad publicity" with the reasoning that when you're shopping for something, you'll remember the name, but not why, and purchase the product/service anyway. That's completely bogus. While I often don't remember why I remember the name, I COMPLETELY remember how I FELT about it. "I don't remember why I know this brand, but I know I hated them with a passion of a thousand suns and will NEVER buy/use their product/service!"
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JoeCool (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 8:30am

Re: Re: About time
I think he's being sarcastic about the (sic) as it REALLY IS correct. I find it funny that people use (sic) when they mean the spelling is incorrect, but it's a quote. I'd think (saq) would be more appropriate - spelling as quoted.
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JoeCool (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 8:36am

Re: They're asshats, so what?
"I don't have the money for anything better than the bus, so I'll run out and CREATE A COMPETING COMPANY."

Yeah, I don't think so. Most people who don't like a service don't have the money to make a competing service, and they can't boycott the service as it's the only service available for something they NEED, which means that complaining to the government (or maybe the news) is the only recourse available.
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JoeCool (profile), 2 May 2018 @ 12:30pm

Re:
Jail? :D
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Toom1275 (profile), 3 May 2018 @ 8:02am

"Defending ourselves against online harrassment (sic) does not constitute harrassment (sic) of the harrasser.

If you didn't suffer from the delusions you do (such as of persecution), Suburban Express, then perhaps you'd realize that your many victims defending themselves from your harassment is, by your own logic not harassment of you, the harasser. You threw the first punches, so you have no right to complain about getting hit back.
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The Wanderer (profile), 4 May 2018 @ 6:51am

Re: Re: Re: About time
I actually just looked this up for my own interest.

The word "sic" apparently means literally "thus"; I imagine it's probably the same word as in "sic transit gloria mundi", "thus passes the glory of the world". In the context, it's a perfectly appropriate way of saying "yes, this is the way it was in the original".
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