Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Roy, Utah

333 F. Supp. 2d 1168, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17992, 2004 WL 1987125
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedSeptember 7, 2004
Docket1:03-cr-00081
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 333 F. Supp. 2d 1168 (Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Roy, Utah) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Roy, Utah, 333 F. Supp. 2d 1168, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17992, 2004 WL 1987125 (D. Utah 2004).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION DENYING MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

CASSELL, District Judge.

The parties are before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. The court finds that the Roy City Ordinance § 17-5 regulating sexually oriented businesses does not violate the First Amendment and that the Doctor John’s store located in Roy is subject to the provisions of the Ordinance. As such, summary judgment in favor of the City is hereby GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Doctor John’s Inc., currently operates about ten stores in the United States selling a variety of merchandise including lingerie, swim wear, lotions, oils, games, roses, stuffed animals, novelty items. Doctor John’s also sells “marital aids” and “adult toys” including “vibrators,” “dildos,” and other masturbation toys, as well as videotapes, DVDs, magazines, and books — some educational and some explicitly sexual in nature. 1

In February, 2001, Doctor John’s, Inc. applied for a general business license for the purpose of opening a store in the City of Roy, Utah. According to the Affidavit of Chris Zimmerman, the Economic and Community Development Director for the City of Roy, Doctor John’s representatives informed him at the time of the application “that the store would sell ‘adult’ novelties, gifts and videos.” 2 The City of Roy did not have a sexually oriented business ordinance but Mr. Zimmerman “informed Dr. John’s representatives that the City would closely monitor sales to minors and pornography/obscenity issues. At that time, the owners voluntarily agreed that they would not allow minors in any portion of the store.” 3

The decision to open the store was based on the perceived need for pornography in Utah. According to the deposition of John K. Coil, president of Doctor John’s Inc.:

I was in Los Angeles and I read the newspaper on a Sunday morning, and there was an article in there that said that the State of Utah had appointed an anti-porn czar. And I had never been to Utah before. I had no knowledge that Utah existed except seeing it on a map, but I thought to myself and said out loud to those people around me, “There’s some uptight people. They need a porn store.” 4
The City of Roy issued a general business license to Doctor John’s in February, 2001.

The license states: GENERAL BUSINESS RETAIL SALES — LINGERIE, NOVELTIES, GIFTS & VIDEOS — NO MINORS ALLOWED PER AGREEMENT WITH OWNER.

On May 1, 2001, the City of Roy adopted Ordinance 879, titled “An Ordinance Providing for the Licensing and Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses and Employees.” Section 1 of the Ordinance sets forth the purpose of the Ordinance and findings demonstrating the need for the *1171 ordinance. These findings are based on case law, congressional testimony, and a compilation of studies of the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses from other jurisdictions. Twenty-five findings are set forth in the Ordinance, the gist of which are that sexually oriented businesses have adverse secondary effects on crime, health, welfare, and morality, and that reasonable licensing procedures are an appropriate way to deal with these secondary effects.

The Ordinance states:

(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a sexually oriented business in the City of Roy without a valid sexually oriented business license.
(B) It shall be unlawful for any person to be an employee ... of a sexually oriented business in the City of Roy without a valid sexually oriented business employee license.

The license fee under the Ordinance for sexually oriented businesses can be no more than $200.00, and annual renewal fees cannot exceed $100.00.

The Ordinance also subjects sexually oriented businesses to certain regulations. For example, operating hours are limited to between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., a no loitering policy must be enforced and there must be appropriate lighting around the exterior of the business. More stringent regulations are imposed on businesses which have on-site “viewing rooms” where adult material can be watched. Doctor John’s, however, has no such viewing rooms.

Pursuant to the Ordinance, sexually oriented businesses are classified in one of eight categories: (1) adult arcades; (2) adult bookstores, adult novelty stores, adult video stores; (3) adult cabarets; (4) adult motels; (5) adult motion picture theaters; (6) adult theaters; (7) semi-nude model studios; and (8) sexual encounter establishments. The City contends that Doctor John’s falls within category 2 and is therefore subject to the licensing procedure and other regulations of the Ordinance. The Ordinance defines category 2 as follows:

“Adult Bookstore”, “Adult Novelty Store”, or “Adult Video Store” means a commercial establishment which has a significant or substantial portion of its stock-in trade or derives a significant or substantial portion of its revenues or devotes a significant or substantial portion of its interior business or advertising, or maintains a substantial section of its sales or display space to the sale or rental, for any form of consideration, of any one or more of the following:
1. Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter, or photographs, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, compact discs, slides, or other visual representations which are characterized by their emphasis upon the exhibition or description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas;
2. Instruments, devices, or paraphernalia which are designed for use or marketed primarily for stimulation of human genital organs or for sadomasochistic use or abuse of themselves or others.

The Ordinance defines “specified sexual activities” as follows:

“Specified Sexual Activity” means any of the following:
1. Sex acts, normal or perverted, including intercourse, oral copulation, masturbation or sodomy; or
2. Excretory functions as part of or in connection with any of the activities described in (1) above.

The Ordinance defines specified anatomical areas as follows:

“Specified Anatomical Areas” shall mean human genitals, anus, cleft of the buttocks, or the female breast.

*1172 In December, 2002, Chris Zimmerman, who believed that Doctor John’s fell within the Ordinance, delivered a copy of the Ordinance to Doctor John’s along with application materials for a sexually oriented business license for the year 2003. In response, Doctor John’s sent the City a 2003 renewal for a general business license. On February 24, 2003, counsel for Doctor John’s sent the City a letter stating:

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Bluebook (online)
333 F. Supp. 2d 1168, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17992, 2004 WL 1987125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doctor-johns-inc-v-city-of-roy-utah-utd-2004.