International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lake County Agricultural Society

521 F. Supp. 8, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16913
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedAugust 14, 1980
DocketCiv. No. H 79-426
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 521 F. Supp. 8 (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lake County Agricultural Society) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lake County Agricultural Society, 521 F. Supp. 8, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16913 (N.D. Ind. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

McNAGNY, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on a request for declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202.

In the instant suit, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. and two of its devotees are seeking to enjoin the defendants from requiring the plaintiffs to lease booth space at the Lake County Fair pursuant to the rules, regulations or policies promulgated by the fair officials. These officials include the current members of the Lake County Agricultural Society, who are charged with the policy-making, operation and administration of the Lake County Fair. The plaintiffs allege that by restricting them to leased booths, the defendants impose a violation of their constitutional rights as provided by the First and Fourteenth Amendments: to-wit, their right to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion and their right to peaceably assemble.

The plaintiffs allege that in order to fully exercise their religious beliefs, or Sankirtan, they must be able to educate and inform the public of their religious beliefs and ideals, and that this education can only be accomplished by the plaintiff’s members going into public places to converse with the public, distribute literature and to solicit contributions for the continuation of their work. This solicitation, or Sankirtan, is alleged to be very important to the plaintiff’s religion, and it cannot be performed passively by restriction to a booth.

The defendants, on the other hand, allege that they are not infringing upon or abridging the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights by restricting them to booths leased from the fair. They contend that the primary purpose of restricting all groups to rental booths is to obtain financing for the fair and its activities and also to allow the greatest access of the public to all the different booths. The ability to put on or provide a fair in the present year is entirely dependent on the financial success of the fair in the preceding year.

The defendants further contend that all groups, whether commercial or non-commercial, are subject to the same terms and conditions, and that such conditions protect both the public and the booth exhibitors in that they prevent infringement upon the fairgoers’ right to approach whatever and whichever booth they choose.

In order to sustain a violation of First Amendment freedoms, the Court must decide whether the purposes underlying the restrictions to a booth further some legitimate, compelling or overriding interests of the Lake County Agricultural Society. The Court must additionally determine that the restraint is neither overbroad nor overinclusive. Lastly, the imposed restraint must be the least restrictive of the plaintiffs’ freedom of religion, speech and assembly in meeting the objectives of the defendants.

Findings of Fact

Prior to the commencement of the 1979 Lake County Fair, the attorney for the [11]*11plaintiff, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., contacted the defendants concerning the plaintiffs’ wish to disseminate and distribute information at the fair. At this time the plaintiffs were informed that they would have to rent a booth. Subsequent to this conversation, the plaintiffs never requested nor attempted to procure a booth to be used by its members during the time the fair was to take place.

On August 18, 1979, members of plaintiffs’ organization, after proper admission to the Lake County Fair, commenced to converse with, disseminate religious information to, and solicit contributions from members of the public for small tokens of symbolic value. In the course of these activities, the plaintiffs were approached by fair officials and a Sheriff’s Deputy and informed that they would have to leave the fairgrounds. The plaintiffs were further informed that if they were later caught soliciting contributions, they would be arrested and sent to jail. As a result, the plaintiffs left the fairgrounds and subsequently brought the present action on August 24, 1979.

Conclusions of Law

This suit, although originally intended to apply to the alleged constitutional violations that took place at the 1979 Lake County Fair, provides a justiciable case or controversy that can be ruled upon at this time. Mootness of a case generally constitutes an inquiry into whether any reasons exist for hearing a case. One consideration in determining mootness is whether the issue is deemed “capable of repetition, yet evading review.” Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U.S. 814, 89 S.Ct. 1493, 23 L.Ed.2d 1 (1969); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975). Recently, the Supreme Court in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sloan, 436 U.S. 103, 98 S.Ct. 1702, 56 L.Ed.2d 148 (1978) said that if there is a reasonable expectation that a complaining party would be subjected to the same action again, or where the challenged action was too short in duration to be litigated prior to its cessation, then a case will not fail due to mootness.

In view of the fact that the plaintiffs regularly frequent local fairs throughout the state, and inasmuch as the plaintiffs have indicated that they would be attending the 1980 Lake County Fair; it readily appears that the plaintiffs will be subjected to the same action in 1980. Therefore, even though the alleged violations at the 1979 fair are no longer valid considerations, the action before this Court presents a justiciable case or controversy within the meaning of Article III, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, due to the reasonable expectation that the plaintiffs would be subjected to the same action again.

The defendants correctly raise the point that Rule 17(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that the capacity of a corporation to sue or to be sued in federal court is to be determined by the law under which it is organized. But it is contended that because the plaintiff is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of New York, that the plaintiffs have no capacity to sue in federal court due to noncompliance with the Indiana “door-closing” statute embodied in Ind.Code § 23-7-1.1-60. The defendants base this proposition on the theory that a “door-closing” statute is clearly a substantive rule under Hanna v. Plumber, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965) and, as such, that it must be given precedence over Rule 17(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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521 F. Supp. 8, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-society-for-krishna-consciousness-inc-v-lake-county-innd-1980.