Catron v. City of St. Petersburg

658 F.3d 1260, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19746, 2011 WL 4467598
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 28, 2011
Docket10-12032
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 658 F.3d 1260 (Catron v. City of St. Petersburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Catron v. City of St. Petersburg, 658 F.3d 1260, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19746, 2011 WL 4467598 (11th Cir. 2011).

Opinions

EDMONDSON, Circuit Judge:

In this Section 1983 case, four homeless plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of two ordinances in the City Code of St. Petersburg, Florida (the “City”) and of the City’s enforcement of the ordinances.

One ordinance, Section 20-30 (or, the “trespass ordinance”), authorizes certain city agents to issue a temporary trespass warning for specific city land — in effect, an exclusion from the property — on which the agent determined that the warning recipient had “violate[d]” city or state law. The other ordinance, Section 8-321 (or, the “storage ordinance”), prohibits storage of personal property on city land such as parks and rights-of-way. The district court dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims; we affirm the district court’s rulings, except we vacate part of the district court’s ruling about the trespass ordinance. Plaintiffs have stated claims on the issues of procedural due process under the United States Constitution and on their right to intrastate travel under the Florida Constitution.

I.

This case involves a complaint against the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, by four homeless residents: Anthony Catron, Raymond Young, Jo Anne Reynolds, and William Shumate (“Plaintiffs”). Plaintiffs contend that two city ordinances, Sections 20-30 and 8-321, and the City’s manner of enforcement for these ordinances, violate Plaintiffs’ rights under the United States and Florida constitutions.

The City has cited, arrested, or confiscated property from each of Plaintiffs for violating the trespass ordinance, the storage ordinance, or both. Plaintiffs filed suit in district court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court dismissed with prejudice Plaintiffs’ amended complaint.

On appeal, Plaintiffs argue that the trespass ordinance — both on its face and in practice — violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the First Amendment overbreadth doctrine, and the right to intrastate travel under the Florida Constitution. Plaintiffs argue that the storage ordinance is void for vagueness under the Due Process Clause.

II.

We review de novo a district court’s dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Redland Co., Inc. v. Bank of Am. Corp., 568 F.3d 1232, 1234 (11th Cir.2009).

A “complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Stating a plausible [1265]*1265claim for relief requires pleading “factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged”: “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id.

III.

Plaintiffs’ first three arguments on appeal are about Section 20-30, the trespass ordinance. Briefly stated, the trespass ordinance authorizes certain city employees, including police officers, to issue a “trespass warning,” which warns persons on public property to depart from that property and not to return.

The trespass ordinance gives authority to issue a trespass warning for public property in three instances: (1) “city employees or officials, or their designees, having control over a facility, building, or outdoor area, including municipal parks” may issue a trespass warning to “any individual who violates any city ordinance, rule or regulation, or state law or lawful directive of a city employee or official” for the public property where the violation occurred, (2) a police officer may issue a trespass warning, when the city official in control of the pertinent city property is unavailable, to “any individual who violates any city ordinance or state law” for the public property where the violation occurred but only if “the police officer [has] receivefd] the approval of the officer’s immediate supervisor for the issuance of the trespass warning,” and (3) any city employee or official has authority “to issue a trespass warning to any person for any lawful reason for any city property ..., when necessary or appropriate in the sole discretion of the city employee or official.” § 20-30(a)-(b), (g). On its face, the trespass ordinance does not cover public rights-of-way. Section 20-30(a)-(b). But Plaintiffs allege that the City enforces the ordinance “curb to curb” — on public sidewalks and bus shelters located on public sidewalks.

After a person has received a trespass warning, if the person is found on the pertinent public property “in violation of a trespass warning [he] may be arrested for trespassing.” Section 20-30(e).1 Section 20-30 requires trespass warnings — as exclusions — to be for a limited time. For first-time violations, the trespass — warning period may not exceed one year; for all other violations, the trespass-warning period may not exceed two years. Section 20-30(c).

A person who has been issued a trespass warning (the “warning-recipient”) may apply to exercise lawfully that person’s First Amendment rights on the city property that is the subject of the trespass warning, and the city official or employee in control of the property “shall not [ ] unreasonably den[y]” the warning-recipient authorization “to enter the property or premises to exercise his or her First Amendment rights or to conduct municipal business.” Section 20-30®.

A copy of the trespass warning — it is a writing — issued pursuant to the trespass ordinance must be provided to the warning-recipient, but no formal procedures have been set out by which the recipient of a trespass warning may challenge the basis of the warning or the terms of the warning. Section 20-30(d).2

[1266]*1266A.

Plaintiffs first argue that the trespass ordinance is unconstitutional facially, and as applied to Plaintiffs, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.3

The Due Process Clause requires “that a deprivation of life, liberty or property ‘be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of the case.’ ” Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 1493, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985) (quoting Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 656, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950)). The government must provide the required notice and opportunity for a hearing “at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner,” although the notice and hearing may be postponed until after the deprivation has occurred. See Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 902, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976).

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Bluebook (online)
658 F.3d 1260, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19746, 2011 WL 4467598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/catron-v-city-of-st-petersburg-ca11-2011.