Ruffino v. City of Puyallup

377 F. Supp. 3d 1205
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 29, 2019
DocketCASE NO. C18-5381 BHS
StatusPublished

This text of 377 F. Supp. 3d 1205 (Ruffino v. City of Puyallup) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruffino v. City of Puyallup, 377 F. Supp. 3d 1205 (W.D. Wash. 2019).

Opinion

BENJAMIN H. SETTLE, United States District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Roy Ruffino's ("Ruffino") motion for partial summary judgment, Dkt. 56, and Defendant the City of Puyallup's ("City") renewed motion for summary judgment, Dkt. 59. The Court has considered the pleadings filed in support of and in opposition to the motion and the remainder of the file and hereby grants Ruffino's motion in part and denies it in part and grants the City's motion in part and denies it in part for the reasons stated herein.

I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Ruffino claims that the City's implementation of "pedestrian safety zones" outside two entrances of the Washington State Spring and Fall Fairs violates his free speech rights under the federal and state constitutions. Dkt. 2. The pedestrian safety zones are delineated by yellow lines painted on the public sidewalk. The safety zone in front of the "Blue gate" entrance and exit to the fairgrounds includes a 121-foot strip in front of the Fair's entrance and exit that covers a width of the sidewalk directly adjacent to the highway, as well as a similar 97-foot strip of sidewalk along the opposite side of the street. This area is illustrated in the aerial photograph below:

*1210Dkt. 10 at 7.

The safety zone in front of the "Gold gate" includes a 72.5-foot strip on the street corner in front of the entrance and on all of sidewalk corners surrounding the intersection. See Dkt. 10 at 7. This safety zone is demonstrated in the following aerial photograph:

Dkt. 10 at 7.

In both locations, the safety zones cover the width of the city sidewalks. The width of these safety zones is illustrated in the image below:

*1211Dkt. 18 at 4. Although there is paved open space immediately adjacent to the safety zones at both the Gold or Blue gates (as depicted in the photograph of the Blue gate above), that area is owned by the Fair, a private non-profit corporation, that prohibits petitioning activity on its premises except for at specifically located ten-by-ten-foot booths that must be reserved for a designated four-day period. Dkt. 11 at 4; Dkt. 11-1 at 12. See also , Initiative 172 (Fair Play for Washington) v. W. Washington Fair , 88 Wash. App. 579, 945 P.2d 761 (1997).

The contested Executive Order provides in relevant part:

During the four days of the Washington State Spring fair in April, nothing shall obstruct, impede, block, hinder, hamper, prohibit, slow, delay or otherwise interfere with pedestrian traffic in the pedestrian safety zones. In addition, no object, article, item, property or any other thing shall be placed, situated, positioned, located, erected, maintained or kept within the pedestrian safety zones. Furthermore, no event, performance, function, show or act shall take place or occur within the pedestrian safety zones. Moreover, no activity that does, or is likely to, obstruct, impede, block, hinder, hamper, prohibit, slow, delay or otherwise interfere with pedestrian traffic in the pedestrian safety zones, shall take place or occur within the pedestrian safety zones.

Dkt. 20-2 at 2-3 (emphasis added).1 It also includes factual findings on crowding and *1212describes the parameters of the pedestrian safety zones. The parties have not indicated that the language changed in any material way for the Fall fair.

On April 19, 2018, during the Spring Fair, Ruffino was conducting his petitioning activity in the pedestrian safety zone outside of the Blue gate when he was approached by City police officers who asked him to move out of the safety zones. No force was used to remove Ruffino. The encounter is documented by several videos. Ruffino claims that the City officers violated his rights by instructing him to leave the pedestrian safety zone. He also claims that the zones are too large and are enforced for an unnecessary amount of time.

On May 14, 2018, Ruffino filed his complaint and commenced this lawsuit. Dkt. 1. On May 16, 2018, Ruffino amended his complaint as a matter of course. Dkt. 2.

On August 7, 2018, the Court issued an order denying Ruffino's motion for a preliminary injunction, Dkt. 10, and granting Ruffino's motion to continue, Dkt. 28, as to his claims against the City and denying it as to his claims against individually named defendants. Dkt. 51. In the same order, the Court also granted the City's motion for summary judgment, Dkt. 16, as to § 1983 liability for individually named defendants and denied it as to claims against the City. Dkt. 51. On January 10, 2019, Ruffino moved for partial summary judgment. Dkt. 56. Also on January 10, 2019, the City renewed its motion for partial summary judgment. Dkt. 59.2 On January 28, 2019, the parties responded. Dkts. 63, 67. On February 1, 2019, the parties replied. Dkts. 72, 76.

II. DISCUSSION

Ruffino seeks partial summary judgment in this case on four issues. Dkt. 56 at 1-2. First, that the City has failed to show empirical evidence supports the restrictions at all, second, that the restrictions are unsupported on weekdays as opposed to weekends, third, that the restrictions at the Gold gate should not include the area west of the west crosswalk at 9th and Meridian, and fourth, that the restrictions at the Blue gate should include only the area that is six feet north of the light pole on the west side of the street. Id. The City seeks a complete grant of summary judgment on all of Ruffino's claims. Dkt. 59 at 4.

A. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is proper only if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). The moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law when the nonmoving party fails to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of a claim in the case on which the nonmoving party has the burden of proof. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). There is no genuine issue of fact for trial where the record, taken as a whole, could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. O'Brien
391 U.S. 367 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley
408 U.S. 92 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. Grace
461 U.S. 171 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence
468 U.S. 288 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Meyer v. Grant
486 U.S. 414 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Frisby v. Schultz
487 U.S. 474 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Ward v. Rock Against Racism
491 U.S. 781 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation
497 U.S. 871 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc.
512 U.S. 753 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Hill v. Colorado
530 U.S. 703 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Thomas v. Chicago Park District
534 U.S. 316 (Supreme Court, 2002)
City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc.
535 U.S. 425 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union
542 U.S. 656 (Supreme Court, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
377 F. Supp. 3d 1205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruffino-v-city-of-puyallup-wawd-2019.