Three food trucks from Middle Tennessee sued the city of Mt. Juliet on Monday through the Beacon Center. The case is a civil rights challenge to the “unfair and unconstitutional” Mt. Juliet ordinance that charges food trucks from outside the city $100 a day for a permit but only $100 a year for the same permit for trucks based in Mt. Juliet.
The civil rights lawsuit was sent to federal court, according to Beacon. It says that the Mt. Juliet food truck ordinance breaks the US and Tennessee constitutions by “depriving out-of-city food truck operators of their right to earn a living and their right to equality before the law.”
The Beacon Center says the law fines food truck owners from outside the city to keep restaurants in the city from having to compete with them. They say the ordinance has nothing to do with real worries about safety and health.
Wen Fa, Director of Legal Affairs at Beacon, Said:
“It is wrong and against the law for Mt. Juliet to not let food trucks from outside the city operate. Aside from the shocking difference between paying $100 a day as a resident of another city and only $100 a year as a resident of the city, what these food truck owners did for Mt. Juliet residents in their time of need is even more shocking.
Funk Seoul Brother and Chivanada are two food trucks that helped Mt. Juliet after the tornado, but now they are being punished by the town’s unfair food truck rule. This unfair treatment of food truck owners must end, and if we win, all food truck owners in the state will be treated the same by the law.
According to a statement from the Beacon Center, the law punishes food truck owners from outside the city for the false reason of protecting city residents from competition. This has nothing to do with real health and safety concerns.
Food trucks that aren’t from Mt. Juliet have to pay a $100-a-day permit fee to be able to do business inside the city limits of Mt. Juliet because of the law in question. Mt. Juliet food trucks, on the other hand, only have to pay a $100 fee every year. The suit says that the $100-a-day fee makes it “impossible” for any outside food truck to make a living.
The Malteses live in College Grove, while Yarzagaray and Lofback live in Nashville. This means that all three of them have to pay $100 a day in permits to work in Mt. Juliet. “Mt. Juliet’s bias against food trucks from outside the city is unfair and against the law,” Wen Fa, Director of Legal Affairs at Beacon, said.
It’s shocking that people who live outside of cities pay $100 a day while people who live in cities only pay $100 a year. It’s even more shocking when you think about what these food truck owners did for people in Mt. Juliet when they were in need.
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Funk Seoul Brother and Chivanada are two food trucks that helped Mt. Juliet after the tornado, but now they are being punished by the town’s unfair food truck rule. This unfair treatment of food truck owners must end, and if we win, all food truck owners in the state will be treated the same by the law.