State Ex Rel. Humphrey v. Casino Marketing Group, Inc.

491 N.W.2d 882, 1992 Minn. LEXIS 295, 1992 WL 317808
Supreme Court of Minnesota·Decided November 6, 1992·No. C1-91-598·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinions

COYNE, Justice.

We examine whether the trial court’s issuance of a temporary injunction enjoining Hall from using automatic dialing-announcing devices (ADADs) in contravention of Minn.Stat. §§ 325E.26-.311 during the [884] pendency of this proceeding violates the first amendment of the United States Constitution or article I, section 3 of the Minnesota Constitution. The court of appeals concluded that the ADAD statute withstands commercial speech scrutiny. We affirm.

ADADs are machines that select telephone numbers by computer program and dial those numbers consecutively, at random, or at predetermined intervals (e.g., every tenth number). If the machine selects a number that is busy, it disconnects and immediately dials the next programmed number, returning to the previously engaged number at a later time. If the machine reaches a telephone to which no one responds, it disconnects after a predetermined number of rings and returns to that number at a later time. If the machine reaches a telephone to which a subscriber responds, a prerecorded message is played. Should the subscriber hang up in the course of the message, defendant Hall claims the machine automatically disconnects and dials the next programmed number. Should the subscriber listen to the entire message, he or she will be provided telephone numbers to call for further information. According to defendant Hall ADADs can be programmed to exclude the telephone numbers of persons who do not want to be called by the machine.

Each ADAD machine is capable of making up to 1,500 telephone calls per day. The record does not reveal how many ADADs Hall operates, but he states that during November and December 1990 he was able to place from 28,000 to 32,000 ADAD generated calls per day. Hall alleges these calls resulted in approximately 25 positive responses per day per machine.

In response to several complaints, including those made by the patients and staff of Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office Consumer Division conducted an investigation which revealed that ADAD generated telephone calls originated from Hall’s house in St. Paul, Minnesota. After an investigator from the attorney general’s office had made several unsuccessful attempts to speak to him, the state ordered Hall to appear at a deposition, but he refused to do so without compensation.

Hall does business as 721 Associates and Associated Marketing — organizations which distribute commercial telephone solicitations. Casino Marketing Group, Inc., based in Nevada, and Universal American Credit Card, Inc., based in Texas, engaged Hall’s service, providing him with a prerecorded sales message to be conveyed by telephone. The Nevada-based business hoped to locate persons who would purchase a travel package to Las Vegas and the Texas-based business hoped to locate persons with no credit history or a poor credit rating who would purchase its credit cards and attendant goods.

On October 30, 1990 the state served on Hall a summons and complaint in which he and Casino Marketing Group, Inc. were named defendants and a summons and complaint in which he and Universal American Credit Card, Inc. were named defendants. In both actions the state sought a declaration that Hall’s conduct violates Minn.Stat. §§ 325E.26-.31, an order enjoining defendants from using ADADs in violation of the statute, and a monetary award. Pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 8.31, subd. 3, the state concurrently brought a motion for a temporary injunction to enjoin Hall’s use of ADADs pending trial on the merits. Hall counterclaimed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, arguing that the ADAD statute is unconstitutional on its face and as applied on the ground that it violates the first amendment of the United [885] States Constitution and Minnesota Constitution article I, section 3.2 He sought a declaration that the statute is unconstitutional, an order enjoining enforcement of the statute, and money damages.

The cases were consolidated for a hearing on the merits of cross motions for a temporary injunction. On April 4, 1991 the trial court, finding that the statute was consonant with commercial speech protection, temporarily enjoined Hall from using his ADADs for commercial solicitation; the court of appeals affirmed.

The standards for issuance and review of a temporary injunction are well established. See Thompson v. Barnes, 294 Minn. 528, 200 N.W.2d 921 (1972); Dahlberg Bros., Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 272 Minn. 264, 137 N.W.2d 314 (1965). Hall, however, does not challenge the trial court’s order on grounds that the state failed to show the traditional prerequisites for issuance of a temporary injunction, but instead argues that the statute on which the temporary injunction is grounded violates free speech principles on its face and as applied.

Because the record is not fully developed, we cannot adjudicate conclusively the merits of the state’s contention that the messages disseminated by Hall’s ADADs are false or misleading. In limiting its review to that appropriate for a temporary injunction motion, the trial court concluded that the evidence before it was insufficient to ascertain whether the speech sponsored by Casino Marketing Group, Inc. and Universal American Credit Card, Inc. was false and misleading and whether the ADAD statute would result in a “total loss” of income from commercial telephone solicitation. Inasmuch as the record accompanying a temporary injunction is necessarily limited and because the state moved for a temporary injunction in response to conduct which neither party argues fell outside the provisions of the ADAD statute, absence of a complete factual record does not provide any basis for overturning the trial court’s ruling on the temporary injunction motions. At the same time, of course, we cannot make factual determinations, and we leave them to the appropriate finder of fact. Nonetheless, we may — and indeed must — deliberate on whether the ADAD statute passes first amendment scrutiny.

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

State Ex Rel. Humphrey v. Casino Marketing Group, Inc., 491 N.W.2d 882, 1992 Minn. LEXIS 295, 1992 WL 317808 (Mich. 1992).

491 N.W.2d 882 (State Ex Rel. Humphrey v. Casino Marketing Group, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of Minnesota v. Timothy Robert Turner
864 N.W.2d 204 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2015)
State v. Melchert-Dinkel
844 N.W.2d 13 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2014)
McCaughtry v. City of Red Wing
831 N.W.2d 518 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2013)
State v. Melchert-Dinkel
816 N.W.2d 703 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2012)
State v. Crawley
789 N.W.2d 899 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2010)
Bergman v. District of Columbia
986 A.2d 1208 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Mauer
726 N.W.2d 810 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2007)
Spafford v. Echostar Communications Corp.
448 F. Supp. 2d 1220 (W.D. Washington, 2006)
Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America v. State
685 N.W.2d 467 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2004)
State v. Wicklund
589 N.W.2d 793 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1999)
Di Ma Corp. v. City of St. Cloud
562 N.W.2d 312 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1997)
State v. Miner
556 N.W.2d 578 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1996)
Tillman v. Distribution Systems of America, Inc.
224 A.D.2d 79 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
Bland v. Fessler
79 F.3d 942 (Ninth Circuit, 1996)
Moser v. Federal Communications Commission
46 F.3d 970 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
Robbinsdale Clinic, P.A. v. Pro-Life Action Ministries
515 N.W.2d 88 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1994)