Albert Krantz v. City of Fort Smith

160 F.3d 1214, 1998 WL 820244
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedNovember 30, 1998
Docket97-3359
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 160 F.3d 1214 (Albert Krantz v. City of Fort Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Albert Krantz v. City of Fort Smith, 160 F.3d 1214, 1998 WL 820244 (8th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs, members of the Twentieth Century Holiness Tabernacle Church (“the Church”) who allegedly have been arrested or threatened with legal injury pursuant to any of four specific municipal ordinances 2 (collectively referred to as “the ordinances”), appeal from final judgments entered in the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, dismissing with prejudice their action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Cities of Alma, Dyer, Fort Smith, and Van Burén, Arkansas (collectively defendants). Krantz v. City of Alma, Nos. 95-2135/95-2136 (W.D.Ark. Nov. 27, 1996) (Krantz) (judgment dismissing with prejudice complaint against Alma, Dyer, and Van Burén); id. (July 30, 1997) (memorandum opinion and judgment dismissing with prejudice complaint against Fort Smith). The district court granted summary judgment for defendants on plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims seeking a declaration that the ordinances are unconstitutional because they prohibit plaintiffs from placing religious literature under the windshield wipers of unattended vehicles parked on public property. Id. (Nov. 27, 1996) (memorandum opinion) (hereinafter “slip op.”). For reversal, plaintiffs now argue that the district court erred in holding as a matter of law that the ordinances (1) are not facially invalid on First Amendment overbreadth grounds, (2) are not unconstitutional as applied to plaintiffs, and (3) were not enacted with a discriminatory purpose. In addition, defendant the City of Dyer challenges plaintiffs’ standing. For the reasons stated below, we hold that plaintiffs have standing to sue the City of Dyer. We further hold that the ordinances are unconstitutional because they are facially overbroad restrictions on free speech. Accordingly, we do not reach the remaining issues raised on appeal. The judgments of the district court are reversed, and the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

*1216 Background

Each of the ordinances makes it a misdemeanor for any person to place a handbill or advertisement on any other person’s vehicle parked on public property within city limits, unless an occupant of the vehicle is willing to accept the handbill or advertisement. For example, the Van Burén ordinance provides in relevant part:

SECTION 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to place or deposit any commercial or non-commercial handbill or other hand-distributed advertisement upon any vehicle not his own, or in his possession, upon any public street, highway, sidewalk, road, [or] alley within the City of Van Burén, providing, however, that it shall not be unlawful upon any such street or other public place for a person to hand out and distribute to the receiver therefor, any handbill to any occupant of the vehicle that is willing to accept it.

Slip op. at 10 (quoting Van Burén, Ark., Ordinance No. 5-1983). 3

According to plaintiffs, “[i]n their effort to ‘preach the gospel to every living person in the earth,’ ” associates of the Church distribute religious literature by placing handbills under the windshield wipers of unattended parked cars. Brief for Appellants at 2. Plaintiffs filed this action for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the ordinances are facially unconstitutional, that they are selectively enforced only against members of the Church, and that they were enacted with the discriminatory purpose of stopping the Church’s handbilling activities, in violation of plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion. The district court certified a plaintiff class, defined as individuals who have been arrested, have been threatened with arrest, or have refrained from distributing handbills because they reasonably believe they will be arrested under one of the ordinances. Plaintiffs moved for declaratory judgment, and defendants filed cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment. Plaintiffs thereafter amended their complaint, adding two new claims. Defendants then filed motions for judgment on the pleadings or partial summary judgment addressing plaintiffs’ newly added claims.

By orders dated November 27, 1996, and July 30, 1997, the district court granted defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment and denied plaintiffs’ motion for declaratory relief, which the court treated as a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The district court held that defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law on plaintiffs’ claim that the ordinances are facially invalid on overbreadth grounds. The district court reasoned:

The Court is not altogether comfortable with the notion that these ordinances actually regulate handbilling — and, therefore, speech or expression. To the contrary, the Court believes these ordinances regulate the conduct of littering — the physical act of throwing down or depositing a piece of paper on public and private property. Nevertheless, since the Court believes that the effect of the ordinances — at least to some limited extent — can be construed as a limitation on handbilling activities, and since handbilling is an expressive activity protected by the First Amendment, the Court is of the view that the ordinances have some impact on expressive conduct.

Slip op. at 11.

The district court went on to state that it would analyze the First Amendment over-breadth issue using the constitutional standard applicable to public forums because the ordinances appeared to regulate both public and private forum speech. Id. at 14-15. The district court noted that written forms of expression in public forums are subject to reasonable time, place or manner restrictions, but that the restrictions must (1) be content-neutral, (2) be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and (3) leave open ample alternative channels of communication. Id. at 15. The district court first determined that the ordinances are content-neutral. Id. at 16. The district court next concluded that the ordinances are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest. On that point, the dis *1217 trict court noted that, although defendants are not required to show that their ordinances are the least restrictive means of accomplishing their objectives, they may not regulate expression so as to substantially burden more speech than necessary to advance legitimate governmental interests. Id. at 17 (citing Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 798-800, 109 S.Ct. 2746, 105 L.Ed.2d 661 (1989) (Ward)). The district court opined that the prevention of litter is a legitimate governmental interest, id.

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Bluebook (online)
160 F.3d 1214, 1998 WL 820244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/albert-krantz-v-city-of-fort-smith-ca8-1998.