Curves, LLC v. Spalding County, Georgia

685 F.3d 1284, 82 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1138, 2012 WL 2626992, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 13846
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 6, 2012
Docket10-13871
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 685 F.3d 1284 (Curves, LLC v. Spalding County, Georgia) 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
Curves, LLC v. Spalding County, Georgia, 685 F.3d 1284, 82 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1138, 2012 WL 2626992, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 13846 (11th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Plaintiffs operated an alcohol-selling nightclub in Spalding County, Georgia. Defendant Spalding County’s ordinances prohibit nude dancing where alcohol is sold. Plaintiffs sued, challenging the constitutionality of the ordinances and asserting claims for malicious arrest and malicious prosecution. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants on Plaintiffs’ constitutional claims. The District Court also granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants on Plaintiffs’ malicious arrest and malicious prosecution claims.

Plaintiffs appeal the District Court’s summary judgment ruling on the merits. In addition, Plaintiffs also question the impartiality of the District Judge — former Judge Jack Camp — and seek retroactive recusal and vacatur of summary judgment.

We affirm the District Court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants.

Background

Curves opened for business in 2006. It was licensed to sell alcohol and operated as a sports bar in Spalding County (“the County”). Curves began offering fully nude dance entertainment in April 2007; before then, sometimes waitresses would merely “flash” their bare breasts at patrons.

After undercover operations and investigation by the authorities, Curves filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the County’s alcohol and adult ordinances (the “Original Alcohol Ordinance” and the “Original Adult Ordinance”). In February 2007, Curves sought to enjoin Defendants from enforcing the ordinances.

After an evidentiary hearing the District Court granted a preliminary injunction, which enjoined Defendants from enforcing parts — but not all — of the ordinances. 1 The District Court denied Curves’s motion to enjoin section 6-3013, the provision of the Original Adult Ordinance that prohibited nude dancing in places that serve alcohol. So, section 6-3013 continued to prohibit Curves from offering nude dancing while it also sold alcohol. Curves appealed to this Court.

Despite the continued operation of section 6-3013, Curves offered nude dancing together with alcohol. Spalding County, in turn, enforced section 6-3013. Defendant Tony Ranieri, a law enforcement officer, would enter Curves and determine wheth *1287 er Curves was serving alcohol while simultaneously offering live nude entertainment. Witnessing both live nudity and the serving of alcohol, Ranieri would cite Curves’s manager, Plaintiff James Gann, for a violation of section 6-3013. Ranieri issued these citations about once per week between 17 May 2007 and 24 August 2007.

On 23 August 2007, Spalding County repealed both the Original Adult Ordinance and the Original Alcohol Ordinance and replaced them with two new ordinances:

• Ordinance No. 2007-17, Spalding County Code §§ 6-3001 through 6-3016 (“Amended Adult Ordinance”); and

• Ordinance No. 2007-18, Spalding County Code § 6-1071 (“Amended Alcohol Ordinance”).

The amended ordinances took effect on 28 August 2007. After the County repealed the original ordinances, this Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ then-pending appeal as moot. Curves LLC v. Spalding Cty., No. 07-12577 (11th Cir. Dec. 28, 2007) (order dismissing appeal as moot).

Curves determined that it could not operate successfully without the ability both to sell alcohol and to offer nude dancing. So, Curves went out of business.

Plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint in the District Court, alleging that parts of the original and amended ordinances violated the First Amendment, that is, prevented the club from offering nude dancing. Plaintiffs also asserted a state-law-based malicious arrest claim and a federal-law-based malicious prosecution claim. Plaintiffs sought damages and fees only, abandoning all claims for declaratory and injunctive relief.

The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants. Plaintiffs appeal.

Discussion

I. Retroactive Recusal and Vacatur

Plaintiffs contend that former Judge Jack Camp — who presided over and ruled on summary judgment — should be retroactively recused pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) and (b)(1) and that Judge Camp’s summary judgment order should be vacated pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6). 2 After Judge Camp’s rulings in this case, federal law officers arrested Judge Camp and charged him with crimes. That Judge Camp— around the time he was deciding this case — frequented Atlanta-area, nude-dancing clubs has become known. Judge Camp’s conduct was, in fact, unrelated to this case. No one contends that Judge Camp had visited the Curves club. Judge Camp ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal charges and resigned his office.

About retroactive recusal, section 455(a) requires recusal where “an objective, fully informed lay observer would entertain significant doubt about the judge’s impartiality.” Christo v. Padgett, 223 F.3d 1324, 1333 (11th Cir.2000). The pertinent facts *1288 in the present case were not disputed. Judge Camp, therefore, decided no disputes of operative fact that were essential to the outcome of this case. 3 And we review de novo Judge Camp’s legal conclusions: that is, we give his legal conclusions no deference. On this record, no fully informed and objectively reasonable lay observer would seriously doubt Judge Camp’s impartiality because of conduct in his private life which was unrelated, in fact, to this case or to these parties. Section 455(a) does not mandate retroactive recusal.

Recusal pursuant to section 455(b)(1) requires that the judge “actually has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party[.]” United States v. Amedeo, 487 F.3d 823, 828 (11th Cir.2007) (internal quotations omitted) (emphasis in original). Section 455(b)(1) is therefore narrower than section 455(a). Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 114 S.Ct. 1147, 1156, 127 L.Ed.2d 474 (1994). No record evidence shows that Judge Camp actually had personal bias or prejudice concerning a party. Section 455(b)(1) does not require retroactive recusal.

Rule 60(b) vacatur for a potential section 455 violation involves consideration of these factors: the risk of injustice to the parties; the risk that denial of relief will produce injustice in other cases; and the risk of undermining the public’s confidence in the judicial process. Liljeberg v. Health Services Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847, 108 S.Ct.

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685 F.3d 1284, 82 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1138, 2012 WL 2626992, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 13846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curves-llc-v-spalding-county-georgia-ca11-2012.