Owners of TouchPlay machines have lost the first round in an effort to overturn the Legislature’s ban on the devices. Iowa Attorney General spokesman, Bob Brammer, says a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Cedar Falls business owner seeking to block the TouchPlay ban.
Brammer says the federal court found the TouchPlay ban is constitutional and may go into effect on May 4th. The lawyer for Cedar Falls-based Hawkeye Commodity Promotions Incorporated alleged in the lawsuit that the ban violates due process, equal protection, contracts and just compensation clauses of the both the U.S. and Iowa constitutions.
Brammer says the federal judge disagreed. He says the ruling rejected several constitutional challenges to the Legislature’s authority to enact a TouchPlay ban.
U.S. District Judge Linda Reade dismissed the case and denied the company’s request for an injunction halting the ban. Company officials say they spent nearly seven million dollars to buy and install nearly 600 Touchplay machines across Iowa.
Brammer says the Attorney General will not say much more as there is another TouchPlay suit that is still pending in Polk County.