Citizens for a Better Environment v. City of Chicago Heights

480 F. Supp. 188, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8545
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 15, 1979
Docket78 C 4706
StatusPublished

This text of 480 F. Supp. 188 (Citizens for a Better Environment v. City of Chicago Heights) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens for a Better Environment v. City of Chicago Heights, 480 F. Supp. 188, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8545 (N.D. Ill. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MAROVITZ, Senior District Judge.

Motion to Dismiss

Plaintiffs Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) and Mark Voight bring this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants City of Chicago Heights (Chicago Heights) and various public officials of .Chicago Heights. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants regulation of peddling activities pursuant to Chicago Heights Ordinance, Chapter 32 (Chapter 32) abridges plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Chapter 32 is set out in full as an appendix to this opinion. Plaintiffs request that Chapter 32 be declared unconstitutional on its face and as applied to plaintiff and that defendants be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from enforcing Chapter 32 with respect to plaintiffs’ canvassing activities. Further, plaintiffs request both compensatory and punitive damages to redress injuries plaintiffs allege they have suffered as a result of defendants’ alleged unconstitutional and bad faith or reckless application of Chapter 32 to plaintiffs. The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).

Plaintiff CBE is an Illinois non-profit organization organized for the purpose of promoting environmental protection. Two of the primary functions of CBE are canvassing and research. CBE’s principal place of business is Chicago, Illinois. Plaintiff Mark Voight is a full-time employee of CBE and his duties include direct responsibility for CBE’s canvassing operations in Illinois. Defendant Chicago Heights is an Illinois municipal corporation located in Cook County. The individual defendants are all past or present officials of Chicago Heights.

Pending before this Court is defendant Chicago Heights’ (defendant) motion to dismiss. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is denied.

Plaintiffs’ alleged cause of action arises from its several recent attempts to conduct & door-to-door canvass of the residents of Chicago Heights. CBE states that it canvasses the residents of over 250 municipalities annually for the purposes of disseminating information concerning environmental protection issues, seeking membership in CBE, and soliciting financial support. *190 Plaintiffs allege that during the period from 1975 through the present, defendant has invoked Chapter 32 in order to either impermissably deny plaintiffs’ requests to canvass the residents of Chicago Heights or to place unreasonable restrictions upon plaintiffs' asserted right to canvass the residents of Chicago Heights. On February 2, 1976 plaintiffs brought suit against defendant, certain of its officials, and numerous other Illinois municipal corporations and the officers thereof, requesting, inter alia, that the Chicago Heights defendants be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from enforcing Chapter 32. Citizens for a Better Environment v. Village of Justice, Civ. No. 76-470 (N.D.Ill., filed Feb. 2, 1976) (hereinafter CBE I). Plaintiff specifically challenged those provisions of Chapter 32 requiring that peddlers be fingerprinted, post a one thousand dollar bond, and appoint the City Clerk as an agent for service of process. Plaintiffs did not seek monetary relief in CBE I.

With respect to the instant defendant, the court in CBE I permanently enjoined defendant from enforcing as against plaintiff the provisions of Chapter 32 specifically challenged by plaintiffs therein on the grounds that the provisions violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights. Citizens for a Better Environment v. Village of Justice, Civ. No. 76-470 at 4-5 (N.D.Ill., Mar. 8, 1977). The court in CBE I explicitly stated that its order did not rule upon the validity of the provision of Chapter 32 requiring the payment of daily fees. Id. at 4. By letter dated March’ 28, 1979, counsel for defendant informed CBE that defendant would waive the payment of fees required by Chapter 32, at least with respect to CBE’s then pending application to solicit. On April 3, 1979, the court in CBE I ruled plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to be moot. Citizens for a Better Environment v. City of Chicago Heights, Civ. No. 76-470 (N.D.Ill., Apr. 3, 1979).

This Court’s discussion of the instant motion begins by noting that a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted can only be granted when “it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45—46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Defendant asserts two grounds in support of its motion to dismiss. First, with respect to plaintiffs’ request for declaratory and injunctive relief, defendant does not assert that plaintiffs have not alleged a colorable claim under section 1983, but rather that plaintiffs’ claim has been mooted by the culminating events of the CBE I action. Second, defendant argues that plaintiffs’ allegations do not present a cognizable claim for monetary relief. The Court will take up each of these arguments in turn.

In support of its first argument, defendant points out that the CBE I court has permanently enjoined defendant from enforcing as against plaintiff the provisions of Chapter 32 challenged therein, that defendant has informed plaintiff that it will waive the payment of permit fees as to plaintiffs’ instant permit application, and that defendant has instructed its Chief of Police to cease enforcement of Chapter 32 with respect to CBE and all other nonprofit organizations. Defendants’ Reply Memorandum, ¶¶ 6-7. Further, defendant asserts that it has initiated procedures to revise and rewrite Chapter 32. Id., ¶ 5.

This Court has no jurisdiction to hear a case if events occurring subsequent to the filing of the suit have caused it to lose “its character as a present, live controversy of the kind that must exist . to. avoid advisory opinions on abstract propositions of law.” Hall v. Beals, 396 U.S. 45, 48, 90 S.Ct. 200, 201, 24 L.Ed.2d 214 (1969). By order of April 3,1979 the court in CBE I declared plaintiff’s request therein for a preliminary injunction moot, without articulating any reasons for its decision. Presumably, the grounds for the court’s order were simply that its order permanently enjoining defendants from enforcing the challenged provisions of Chapter 32 as against plaintiff had rendered their request for preliminary injunctive relief moot. Therefore, *191 insofar as plaintiffs now assert a claim for declaratory and injunctive relief on the basis that Chapter 32 is facially invalid or that the permit fee and time restriction provisions of Chapter 32 are invalid the court’s disposition of CBE I has not mooted plaintiff’s instant action. See NAACP v. Button,

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Bluebook (online)
480 F. Supp. 188, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-for-a-better-environment-v-city-of-chicago-heights-ilnd-1979.