Ladoga Canning Corp. v. McKenzie

370 So. 2d 1137
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 3, 1979
Docket53505, 53506
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 370 So. 2d 1137 (Ladoga Canning Corp. v. McKenzie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ladoga Canning Corp. v. McKenzie, 370 So. 2d 1137 (Fla. 1979).

Opinion

370 So.2d 1137 (1979)

The LADOGA CANNING CORPORATION, Etc., Appellant,
v.
Sydney H. McKENZIE, III, Etc., Appellee.
L & P ENTERPRISES, INC., Etc., Appellant,
v.
Sydney H. McKENZIE, III, etc., Appellee.

Nos. 53505, 53506.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 3, 1979.

*1138 Bruce L. Randall, Fort Lauderdale, for appellants.

Sydney H. McKenzie, III, in pro per.

Philip S. Shailer and Thomas J. Ansbro, Jr., Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.

Terry L. DeMeo, South Miami, Richard Yale Feder, Miami, and M. David Gelfand, pro hac vice, Coral Gables, for American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida, Inc., amicus curiae.

SUNDBERG, Justice.

The issue in this case is whether the entry of an injunction pursuant to section 847.011(8), Florida Statutes (1977), restraining a bookseller in futuro from disseminating any printed materials or other merchandise which violate the provisions of section 847.011(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1977), absent a judicial determination that the particular materials or merchandise are obscene, constitutes an impermissible prior restraint proscribed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution.

Appellants are operators of "adult" bookstores located in the City of Fort Lauderdale. Appellee, as city attorney for the *1139 City of Fort Lauderdale, instituted civil proceedings against appellants in the Circuit Court for Broward County, Florida, by filing a complaint seeking injunctive relief pursuant to section 847.011(8), Florida Statutes (1977). In each case appellee submitted eight magazines which had been purchased at appellants' stores on various occasions by a Fort Lauderdale police officer. Appellee requested a determination that the eight magazines were obscene and an injunction to bar their sale or distribution. He further sought to enjoin the dissemination of any other printed materials or other merchandise which violated the provisions of section 847.011(1)(a).[1]

Appellants filed identical motions to dismiss appellee's complaints, arguing, in relevant part, that: (1) the injunctive relief sought constituted a prior restraint upon the dissemination of materials which had not been judicially determined to be obscene, in contravention of the first amendment to the United States Constitution; and (2) that the injunction requested did not refer to any specific material and, therefore, was vague and overbroad.

After hearings, the respective circuit judges denied appellee's motions to dismiss. In identical orders granting temporary injunctions, the judges held section 847.011 constitutional on its face and as applied to appellants. Further, the eight magazines submitted by appellee were found to be obscene and their continued sale or distribution was enjoined until final hearing or further order of the courts. Appellants were also directed to refrain from selling or offering for sale any printed materials which violated the provisions of section 847.011(1)(a). After a second hearing, orders granting permanent injunctions were entered by the circuit judges, which were identical in all material respects to the previously entered orders granting temporary injunction.

Appellants appealed to this Court, raising the issues previously considered in their motions to dismiss below. Because the orders of the circuit judges directly and initially ruled upon the constitutionality of section 847.011, Florida Statutes (1977), we have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.[2]

Appellants properly concede that the utilization of civil injunctive proceedings to control the dissemination of obscene materials is not unconstitutional per se. See McKinney v. Alabama, 424 U.S. 669, 96 S.Ct. 1189, 47 L.Ed.2d 387 (1976); Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 93 S.Ct. 2628, 37 L.Ed.2d 446 (1973). Further, this Court has confirmed the facial validity *1140 of section 847.011, Florida's civil injunction statute relating to obscene materials. Johnson v. State, 351 So.2d 10 (Fla. 1977); State ex rel. Gerstein v. Walvick Theatre Corp., 298 So.2d 406 (Fla. 1974); State v. Papp, 298 So.2d 374 (Fla. 1974).

Appellants argue, however, that section 847.011 has been unconstitutionally applied in the case at bar. This is so because, in addition to proscribing sale of the eight magazines which the circuit court found to be obscene, the injunctions also prohibited the distribution of "other printed materials which violate the provisions of Florida Statute 847.011(1)(a)." These "other printed materials" were not specifically identified in the court orders, nor was the issue of their alleged obscenity determined by the court prior to issuance of the injunctions. Rather, the orders set forth the test for obscenity enunciated in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 513 (1973), and enjoined the sale or offer for sale of materials which depicted eleven specific actions or poses, apparently finding that materials depicting this specific conduct were obscene under the Miller standard. Appellants submit that the injunctions, as written, constitute an impermissible prior restraint upon first amendment expression. We agree.

While we intimate no judgment with respect to the status of the eight magazines which the circuit judges found to be obscene,[3] we conclude that the civil injunction process as to the balance of the materials mentioned in the orders was not conducted in a procedurally proper manner. The injunctions afforded appellants inadequate notice of what "other printed materials" fell within their ambit. Further, these unspecified materials were not judicially declared to be obscene prior to the issuance of the injunctions restraining their dissemination. Consequently, with the exception of that portion of the orders relating to the eight specific magazines, the injunctions are violative of appellants' first amendment rights. Appellee argues that inclusion of the Miller standard for obscenity and recitation of the eleven actions or poses which the lower courts determined were obscene under that standard sufficed to protect these constitutional rights of appellants. In support of his position appellee cites For Adults Only, Inc. v. State ex rel. Gerstein, 257 So.2d 912 (Fla.3d DCA 1972), wherein the District Court of Appeal, Third District, upheld a blanket injunction similar to the ones before us:

[D]efendant says the permanent injunction was too broad, vague and ambiguous and is, therefore, invalid. This permanent injunction did not prohibit the sale of "obscene" literature. It named specifically eleven different displays, poses, or actions which defendants were prohibited from selling, distributing, or advertising. We have examined the permanent injunction and are of the opinion that it is sufficiently specific to direct defendants as to what they are required to do under its requirements.

Id. at 914. The error of this holding is demonstrated by the other case upon which appellee relies to support the validity of his injunctions — the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Miller v. California. The Miller Court made it clear that the portrayal of sexual conduct, without more, does not render a publication obscene.

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