McCollester v. City of Keene

586 F. Supp. 1381
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedMay 16, 1984
DocketCiv. 82-50-D
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 586 F. Supp. 1381 (McCollester v. City of Keene) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCollester v. City of Keene, 586 F. Supp. 1381 (D.N.H. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

DEVINE, Chief Judge.

This is a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 wherein plaintiffs, juveniles and their parents, attack the facial validity of a juvenile curfew ordinance of the City of Keene, New Hampshire, as violative of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs claim that the ordinance imposes unreasonable nocturnal curfew restraints on juveniles, invades parents’ right of family privacy, and imposes impermissible criminal liability on parents for their children’s curfew violations. Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202, adjudging the ordinance unconstitutional, and a permanent injunction enjoining its enforcement. Both plaintiffs and defendants have filed motions for summary judgment.

This Court declared a previous version of the Keene juvenile curfew ordinance to be facially invalid in McCollester v. City of Keene, New Hampshire, 514 F.Supp. 1046 (D.N.H.1981) (“McCollester I”), finding it an unconstitutional deprivation of plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights. The Court found the ordinance to be overbroad in scope, resulting in an unreasonable intrusion into the personal liberty interests of juveniles and their parents, and not justified by a substantial and legitimate state interest. The Court determined that the Keene ordinance usurped the traditional parental role in supervising a child’s activities, finding that even reasonable, non-negligent parental supervision could result in juvenile violations and parental liability under the ordinance. Id. at 1052-53. Finally, the Court ruled that the City of Keene’s interests were not sufficiently strong to justify the curtailment of juveniles’ individual freedom and the usurpation of parental supervision under the tests of Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. 622, 99 S.Ct. 3035, 61 L.Ed.2d 797 (1979) ("Bellota II”), and Richards v. Thurston, 424 F.2d 1281 (1st Cir.1970).

On appeal, the First Circuit vacated the decision on jurisdictional grounds, finding that plaintiff’s complaint had not presented a justiciable issue. McCollester v. Keene, 668 F.2d 617 (1st Cir.1982). On remand, this Court ultimately determined that plaintiffs had stated a justiciable claim. McCollester v. Keene, No. 82-50 (D.N.H. Aug. 13, 1983) (order granting preliminary injunction). 1 As this Court’s earlier decision in *1383 McCollester I was vacated on jurisdictional grounds only, the substance of the earlier ruling remains valid and is hereby incorporated as a part of this decision. The sole remaining issue for consideration is whether the supervening amendments to the Keene ordinance cure the constitutional defects cited in McCollester 1.

The Facts

The fourth version of the Keene ordinance, 2 (see Appendix) now before the Court for consideration, prohibits juveniles under sixteen years of age from being on a public street or in any public place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. unless the juvenile:

1. Is accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or person over eighteen years of age who is authorized or approved by the juvenile’s parent or guardian;

2. Is in transit to or from his place of employment;

3. Is in transit between the hours of 10 p.m. and 12 midnight to or from a restaurant, library, movie theater, store, or other place of public accommodation;

4. Is in transit between the hours of 10 p.m. and 12 midnight to or from a church, meeting hall, school, courthouse, or other place of public assembly or worship, including participation in demonstrations, protests, gatherings, rallies, picketing, sit-ins, sleep-ins, or similar occupations by a group seeking to publicize its position for which a City permit has been granted.

The ordinance defines “public street” as streets, sidewalks, and private ways open to public use, and defines “being on a public street or public way” as including presence in or on a parked motor vehicle. A public “place” is defined as including parks, playgrounds, schoolyards, governmental building yards, vacant lots, municipal parking lots, and parking lots open to the public, such as those of supermarkets, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places of public accommodation.

Plaintiffs claim that the supervening amendments, passed February 18, 1982, do not cure the constitutional flaws of the Keene ordinance. Plaintiffs complain that the ordinance remains overly restrictive in spite of the new amendments which exempt juveniles from curfew restrictions if they are passengers in a moving motor vehicle or if they are traveling before midnight to or from participation in a public assembly of “persons seeking to publicize their position, which assembly has been authorized by a City permit”. In sum, plaintiffs argue that the current Keene ordinance is still overly broad and violates Fourteenth Amendment Due Process guarantees against unreasonable governmental interference with citizens’ liberty and privacy rights.

Defendants counter with the argument that the Keene juvenile curfew is a narrowly-drawn ordinance, especially as clarified by the February 1982 amendments. Furthermore, defendants claim that any ordinance infringement of the liberty and privacy interests of juveniles or their parents is outweighed by the significant and legitimate public purposes which the ordinance serves, including: protection of the public safety and welfare through prevention of nocturnal juvenile crime; protection of juveniles from moral and physical harm; and encouragement of parental supervision of children.

Applicable Law

In considering the parties’ summary judgment motions, the Court follows the well-established rule that the moving party bears the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Donovan v. Agnew, 712 F.2d 1509, 1516 (1st Cir.1983); Early v. Eastern Transfer, 699 F.2d 552, 554-55 *1384 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 93, 78 L.Ed.2d 100 (1983). Here, as agreed by the parties, there is no genuine issue of material fact, and therefore the ordinance challenge may be considered on summary judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
586 F. Supp. 1381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccollester-v-city-of-keene-nhd-1984.