Dykema Win in 7th Circuit Court Touted in Security Systems News

Security Systems News, the nation’s leading business-to-business publication for the security system integrator and installer market, called a recent appellate court win by Dykema for its clients—Alarm Detection Systems and three other alarm companies—a significant and positive action for private market providers of fire alarm systems.

The July 31, 2013 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court modified permanent injunction issued in August 2012 that the public Lisle-Woodridge Fire District did not have the authority to require private businesses to contract with the District or its chosen vendor for fire alarm monitoring, a requirement which effectively denied private companies—such as Alarm Detection Systems—the ability to retain customers and solicit such business.  In so holding, the Court affirmed that Fire Protection Districts lack authority to engage in the fire alarm monitoring business.

In the Security Systems News story, Bruce Goldsmith, who led the Dykema team that represented Alarm Detection Systems, states that the decision “is very good news for the industry. It fully supports the position we took in the District Court.” Goldsmith adds that “the general principles [of this case] apply across the board: local government should not be monopolizing fire alarm monitoring or with contracts between the alarm companies and their customers.  The Seventh Circuit also found that the District’s fire alarm monitoring was substandard compared to central station monitoring by private alarm companies like Alarm Detection Systems.

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