RCI Entertainment (San Antonio), Inc. D/B/A XTC Cabaret v. City of San Antonio

373 S.W.3d 589, 2012 WL 392930, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 1003
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 8, 2012
Docket04-11-00045-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 373 S.W.3d 589 (RCI Entertainment (San Antonio), Inc. D/B/A XTC Cabaret v. City of San Antonio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
RCI Entertainment (San Antonio), Inc. D/B/A XTC Cabaret v. City of San Antonio, 373 S.W.3d 589, 2012 WL 392930, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 1003 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

SANDEE BRYAN MARION, Justice.

This is an appeal from a permanent injunction and declaratory judgment adverse to the appellants. We conclude the ordinance is not preempted by or inconsistent with the Texas Penal Code or the Texas Business and Commerce Code, and is not an unconstitutional restraint on freedom of expression. However, because the injunction is overly broad in scope, we reverse in part and remand.

THE ORDINANCE

In 2005, the City of San Antonio (“the City”) adopted an ordinance, later codified in the City’s Code of Ordinances, that prohibits nudity and semi-nudity in public places and requires permits for “human display establishments.” The ordinance makes it unlawful

(a) for an individual to intentionally or knowingly appear in a state of nudity in a public place.
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(c) for an individual, person, corporation, or association that manages, or operates a human display establishment to intentionally or knowingly allow an individual to appear on the premises of said establishment in a state of nudity.
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(e) for an owner-operator of a human display establishment to intentionally or knowingly allow an individual to appear on the premises of said establishment in a state of nudity.

San Antonio, Tex., Code § 21-205(a), (c), (e) (2005). 2

*594 The ordinance defines “human display establishment” as

those premises, including those subject to regulation under Chapters 54 or 243 of the Texas Local Government Code, as amended, wherein there is conducted the business of furnishing, providing or procuring dancers, entertainers, or models who appear live at said premises in a state of nudity or semi-nudity, or while performing specified sexual activities.
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Id. § 21-200.

The ordinance defines “nude or nudity or state of nudity 5 ’ as “a state of undress which fails to fully and opaquely cover the anus, crevice of the buttocks, genitals, pubic region, or perineum anal region, regardless of whether the nipple and areola of the human breast are exposed.” Id.

Any violation of the ordinance is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $2,000.00. Id. § 21-208(a). The ordinance allows the City to seek in-junctive relief to enjoin violation of the ordinance. Id. § 21-213. Finally, an exception to the prohibition contained in section 21-205 exists for a “person engaged in expressing a matter of serious literary, artistic, scientific, political, or social value.” Id. § 21 — 207(c)(1).

BACKGROUND

Appellant RCI Entertainment (San Antonio), Inc. d/b/a XTC Cabaret (“RCI”) operates a cabaret-type establishment that offers live nude entertainment. Appellant Players Club, LLC a/k/a Players Club a/k/a Paradise Gentlemen’s Club (“Players”) also operates a cabaret-type establishment that offers live nude entertainment. Both companies have operated their businesses within San Antonio, Texas since 1999 and 2002 respectively.

One evening in December 2009, the San Antonio Police Department appeared at the appellants’ businesses to conduct “inspections.” At both establishments, police arrested entertainers for appearing in a state of nudity in a public place and managers for allowing the entertainers to appear in a state of nudity in a human display establishment. In separate lawsuits, which were later consolidated, appellants sued the City seeking declaratory and in-junctive relief on the grounds that the ordinance was preempted by the Texas Penal Code and the Texas Business and Commerce Code. Alternatively, appellants sought a declaration that the ordinance was unconstitutional on the grounds that the ordinance imposed an unreasonable and unnecessary limitation on expression and constitutionally-protected activities, thereby constituting a prior restraint and “chilling effect” on protected speech. The City counterclaimed, in both suits, seeking to permanently enjoin the appellants from further violations of subsections (a), (c), and (e) of section 21-205 of the ordinance.

Following a bench trial, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the City and denied all claims for relief asserted by the appellants. Appellants are permanently enjoined as follows:

[Appellants] and their respective agents, servants, employees, representatives, contractors, and those in active concert or participation with it or them are restrained from violating Article IX, Section 21-205(a), (c), and (e) of the City of San Antonio Code of Ordinances [specifically restrained from allowing individuals to appear in a state of nudity at d/b/a The Players Club a/k/a Paradise *595 Gentlemen’s Club and RCI Entertainment (San Antonio), Inc. d/b/a XTC Cabaret].

The judgment provided that the restraint was binding on RCI and Players “and upon those persons described in Section 21-205(c) and (e) in active concert or participation with it or them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.”

Appellants’ motion for new trial was overruled by operation of law, and this appeal ensued.

PREEMPTION

Appellants first argue the challenged portion of the ordinance (subsections (a), (c), and (e) of section 21-205), is preempted by the Texas Penal Code and the Texas Local Government Code as a matter of law and, therefore, void.

When reviewing the validity of a city ordinance, an appellate court is to presume the ordinance is valid. City of Brookside Village v. Comeau, 633 S.W.2d 790, 792 (Tex.1982). The burden of showing that a city ordinance is invalid rests on the party attacking it. Home-rule cities, such as San Antonio, have full power of self-government and authority to do anything the Legislature could have authorized them to do. Tex. Const, art. XI, § 5. Therefore, courts now determine whether the Legislature has limited the power of a home-rule city, not whether it has made specific grants of authority. In re Sanchez, 81 S.W.3d 794, 796 (Tex.2002) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam); see also Dallas Merchant’s & Concessionaire’s Ass’n v. City of Dallas, 852 S.W.2d 489, 490-91 (Tex.1993); State v. Chacon, 273 S.W.3d 375, 378 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2008, no pet.).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
373 S.W.3d 589, 2012 WL 392930, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 1003, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rci-entertainment-san-antonio-inc-dba-xtc-cabaret-v-city-of-san-texapp-2012.