CHAMPAIGN — Suburban Express and the Illinois Attorney General filed a joint motion Thursday to extend the temporary restraining order against the company as the two sides negotiate.
After Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued Suburban Express and owner Dennis Toeppen last month for alleged discrimination and harassment against its customers, a federal judge in Chicago approved the 28-day TRO.
The order required Suburban Express to take down personally-identifying information from its website, stop retaliating against customers for negative reviews and remove language from its contract that prohibits negative reviews.
Madigan’s office said Suburban Express has been complying with the order.
“In the time since the Court entered the TRO, the State has monitored the activities of Suburban Express,” the joint motion read. “Based on information available to the State, Suburban Express is in substantial compliance with the terms of the TRO.”
Because of this, and because the two sides “have begun discussions about the potential resolution of this dispute,” they filed a motion asking the judge to extend the TRO until June 22.
With her lawsuit, Madigan said she wanted to force Toeppen and Suburban Express to either comply with the law or go out of business.
The lawsuit stems from an email advertisement Suburban Express sent in December saying its benefits included “Passengers like you. You won’t feel like you’re in China when you’re on our buses.”
That led to a swift backlash, apologies and a subpoena from Madigan’s office to determine whether Suburban Express had violated the Illinois Human Rights Act.