Eve Productions, Inc. v. Shannon

312 F. Supp. 26, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12844
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedFebruary 13, 1970
DocketNo. 70 C 29(1)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 312 F. Supp. 26 (Eve Productions, Inc. v. Shannon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eve Productions, Inc. v. Shannon, 312 F. Supp. 26, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12844 (E.D. Mo. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HARPER, Chief Judge.

This action was brought by plaintiffs, seeking a temporary restraining order and temporary and permanent injunctions against the defendants.

Plaintiff, Eve Productions, Inc., is the distributor of the motion picture film “Vixen”; plaintiff Meyer is the creator, director and producer of “Vixen”; plaintiff, St. Louis Orpheum Corporation (Loew’s), is the owner and operator of Loew’s Mid-City motion picture theatre; plaintiffs Sellers and Meyers are managers of two theatres owned by or affiliated with St. Louis Orpheum Corporation; and plaintiff Flier is the projectionist at Loew’s Mid-City Theatre.

Defendant Shannon is the prosecuting attorney; defendant Van Dillen is the city counselor; defendant Soehngen is a police sergeant; and defendant Geders is a policewoman; all of the City of St. Louis.

Jurisdiction is asserted under 28 U.S. C.A. §§ 1331, 1343(3) and (4) and 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. The complaint alleges in substance as follows:

Plaintiff Loew’s booked the film “Vixen” for exhibition from December 26, 1969, until January 22, 1970, subject tq extension by Loew’s from plaintiffs Meyer and Eve Productions, Inc.; that Loew’s advertised the film as “X”, restrict-! ed to adult audiences exclusively and did so restrict admission to the film; that the film “Vixen” was displayed; that on January 12, 1970, a group of plainr clothes detectives entered Loew’s Mid-City Theatre without prior notice and without warrants and seized four reels of the print of “Vixen”, miscellaneous advertising material and other items; that the manager and projectionist were arrested for allegedly exhibiting an obscene film; that later that day plaintiff Meyers was arrested for allegedly advertising an obscene film; that criminal prosecutions are now pending; that no adversary hearing was held prior to the seizure of the film to determine its obscenity ; that defendants have concertedly entered a program of seizing film on the basis of alleged obscenity without a prior adversary hearing, but based on their own conclusory assertions in viola[28]*28tion of the United States Constitution; that plaintiffs have requested the return of the film which has been refused; that defendants’ conduct is bad faith enforcement of the law; that the seizure and holding of the film will cause economic harm to the plaintiffs, deprive the public of its right to view the film and plaintiffs of their right to exhibit the film; that plaintiffs’ remedy at law is inadequate and the injury irreparable. Supporting exhibits and affidavits are attached to the complaint.

Plaintiffs seek the return of the film and the paraphernalia seized, and the suppression of such material as evidence in any pending or future prosecutions and the restraint of the defendants from future unlawful searches and seizures. Further, plaintiffs seek to enjoin the pending prosecutions of the plaintiffs arising out of the arrests made on January 12, 1970. All parties on January 30, 1970, filed return to the order to show cause, and in addition motions to dismiss were filed. The court reserved ruling on the motions. A hearing was held on January 30, 1970. By consent of all parties, the matter was heard on the merits.

No charges are presently pending against any of the plaintiffs under the Missouri obscenity statute. The pending state court prosecutions referred to herein are prosecutions in the City Court under two ordinances of the City of St. Louis dealing with obscenity. It is noted that the plaintiffs have not in any way challenged the constitutionality of the Missouri statute or the ordinances of the City of St. Louis with respect to obscenity.

Any injunction such as has been applied for here would substantially interfere with the prosecution and adjudication of pending state court proceedings. Therefore, in addition to determining whether plaintiffs have shown facts justifying the extraordinary remedy of injunction, it must be determined whether plaintiffs have made the necessary showing for an order staying the state prosecutions.

28 U.S.C.A. § 2283 provides:

“A court of the United States may not grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State court except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments.”

A definite limitation has been placed on the federal court's power to interfere with state court proceedings. And it is this court’s opinion that 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 is not an expressly authorized exception to it. Koen v. Long, 302 F.Supp. 1383 (E.D.Mo.1969); Brooks v. Briley, 274 F.Supp. 538, aff'd 391 U.S. 361, 88 S.Ct. 1671, 20 L.Ed.2d 647.

Plaintiffs have asserted that they are being harassed by a bad faith prosecution. Plaintiffs have based this assertion on their contentions that the seizure of the films and other materials was unlawful for lack of prior notice and of an adversary hearing on the issue of obscenity ; and that defendants knew that such was illegal and had been told so by counsel. These are hardly indicia of a prosecution commenced without regard to its eventual success or failure, but solely for the purposes of harassment. Plaintiffs’ assertions are totally conclusory and without support in the facts. There is absolutely nothing before this court to indicate that defendants have resorted to tactics designed to impose continuing harassment in order to discourage protected activities, nor is there any evidence of selective enforcement of the ordinances involved. In fact, the testimony is to the contrary.

The credible evidence presented concerning the enforcement shows that the prosecutions were commenced in good faith. Plaintiffs introduced testimony given by Policewoman Geders on deposition relating to the events leading up to the arrests and seizure of the property involved. Detective Geders testified that she has been a policewoman for fourteen years, a member of the Vice Division for eight years, and for five years has been [29]*29assigned to viewing movies with the aim of enforcing the obscenity laws. With respect to the movie “Vixen”, Detective Geders stated that she viewed the film in its entirety as a part of her police duties on January 3, 1970. On January 7, 1970, Detective Geders met with other police officers in the City Counselor’s cf. fice with the City Counselor and Mr. Freeman, the assistant City Counselor. At that meeting the officers related the contents of the movie “Vixen” and asked for a legal opinion as to the elements of obscenity and the proper procedures necessary to make arrests for violation of obscenity laws. Investigation continued, and on January 12th, Detective Geders, and other police officers, again viewed the movie “Vixen” in its entirety. Immediately thereafter, the officers arrested the manager and the projectionist for violation of obscenity laws and conducted a search resulting in the seizure of the items in question here. The above testimony, produced by plaintiffs, shows good faith, rather than bad faith, enforcement of the law.

Apart from plaintiffs’ failure to show defendants’ bad faith, plaintiffs lack grounds for the extraordinary remedy of injunction. Such interference upon state criminal processes is permissible only in those exceptional cases where the injunction is necessary to prevent irreparable injury which is clear and imminent or where the danger of such injury is both great and immediate. Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 63 S.Ct.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Turco v. Allen
334 F. Supp. 209 (D. Maryland, 1971)
Eve Productions, Inc. v. Shannon
439 F.2d 1073 (Eighth Circuit, 1971)
Major v. Ferdon
325 F. Supp. 1141 (N.D. California, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
312 F. Supp. 26, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eve-productions-inc-v-shannon-moed-1970.