Scrap firms challenge Omaha, Nebraska, ordinance

The owners of three scrap metal firms that operate in Omaha, Nebraska, are challenging a year-old municipal ordinance designed to clamp down on metals theft. The three companies say the law asks for too much personal information from customers and dealers and could result in the exposure of trade secrets.

According to an online article by the Omaha World-Herald, the challenge to the ordinance has been made by St. Louis-based Alter Trading, Wisconsin-based Sadoff Iron & Metal and Everett Industrial Building Co., each of which operates a scrap facility in the city.

An attorney representing the three companies, who is quoted in the World-Herald article, specifically mentions the LeadsOnline system and its contract. The attorney says the contract causes dealers to “forfeit privacy rights, valuable property rights and constitutionally protected rights” and also could deprive the companies of trade secrets by disclosing business relationships.

A district court judge has temporarily restrained Omaha police from enforcing the law at the three companies’ Omaha locations, pending the case’s outcome, according to the newspaper.