Pittsford v. City of Los Angeles

122 P.2d 535, 50 Cal. App. 2d 25, 1942 Cal. App. LEXIS 885
California Court of Appeal·Decided February 17, 1942·No. Civ. 13391·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

DORAN, J.

This action arose under circumstances similar to those in Portnoy v. Hohmann, Civil No. 13283, this day decided, ante, p. 22 [122 Pac. (2d) 533], but the ordinance sought to be enforced against plaintiffs in the instant action is section 28.01.1 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. The defendant city and its chief of police here appeal from the judgment granting a permanent injunction against enforcement of the ordinance in question as to respondents, which judgment was *27 entered after demurrer to respondents’ complaint was overruled and appellants had waived the right to answer. The complaint prayed for the relief granted upon specific allegations as to the unconstitutionality of the ordinance, to wit: That it constitutes a denial to plaintiffs of the right of free press and the right of free speech, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and section 9 of article I of the Constitution of the State of California; that it denies plaintiffs the equal protection of the laws and grants privileges to one class of citizens not accorded to all citizens similarly situated, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and of section 21 of article I of the Constitution of the State of California; that it constitutes an unreasonable, unwarranted, arbitrary and discriminatory regulation having no substantial relation to the public health, morals, safety, or welfare, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and that it deprives plaintiffs of their property and their property rights without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and section 13 of article IV (sic) of the Constitution of the State of California.

Respondents’ business was the same as that of the respondent in Portnoy v. Hohmann, supra, and in their complaint respondents described the operation of their business as follows:

. . plaintiffs employ photographers, the number of whom varies from time to time, and said photographers are equipped by plaintiffs with motion picture cameras; that pictures are taken by said photographers of pedestrians on the sidewalks of the City of Los Angeles, and simultaneously with the taking of a picture of a pedestrian the photographer offers to the person whose picture has been taken an order blank in the form of a card, together with an envelope bearing the address of plaintiffs’ place of business . . . that each card bears a serial number for the purpose of enabling plaintiffs to identify the picture which has been taken, and the person whose picture has been taken and to whom the card is handed is informed by the printing on said card that by inserting his or her name and address on said card and mailing the same in the envelope accompanying it, together with twenty-five cents and three cents postage, said person will receive from plaintiffs an enlargement of the picture which has been taken. . . . That said order blanks and envelopes are not thrown on the sidewalks or streets, nor are they offered or handed to pedestrians promis *28 cuously by said photographers, but are offered and handed to those persons only whose pictures have been taken and who are willing to and voluntarily accept the same.”

Section 28.01.1 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, by virtue of which the city sought to prevent distribution of the order blanks and envelopes in question, reads as follows:

“ (a) No person shall, upon any street, sidewalk or park, cast, throw or deposit, or distribute among pedestrians or to persons in vehicles, any commercial advertising handbill, or any handbill distributed for the purpose of advertising any merchandise, commodity, property, business, service, art, or skill, offered, sold or rendered for hire, reward, price, trade or profit.
‘‘(b) This section shall not be deemed or construed to prohibit or restrict the distribution of written or printed matter devoted to the expression of views, opinions, beliefs or contentions relating to religious, political or sociological subjects, or to public or civic affairs, or to labor disputes or other controversies, or to community, state, regional, national or international affairs, or which treat of any social or economic order, or which relate to the arts or sciences; or which are aimed to redress, any grievance, or which otherwise are not distributed for the purpose of soliciting business, trade or custom; nor shall the terms of subsection (a) be deemed to include the printed notice of an event which is not arranged for profit or to stimulate the business, trade, or traffic of the person who causes the dissemination of the notice, even though a monetary contribution of an admission fee be requested or accepted in connection with such event. ’ ’

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Pittsford v. City of Los Angeles, 122 P.2d 535, 50 Cal. App. 2d 25, 1942 Cal. App. LEXIS 885 (Cal. Ct. App. 1942).

122 P.2d 535 (Pittsford v. City of Los Angeles) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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