Taylor v. City of Fort Lauderdale

583 F. Supp. 514, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17865
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedApril 5, 1984
DocketNo. 82-6408-Civ-JCP
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 583 F. Supp. 514 (Taylor v. City of Fort Lauderdale) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 583 F. Supp. 514, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17865 (S.D. Fla. 1984).

Opinion

ORDER

PAINE, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion for a summary judgment on Count I of the complaint (DE 58). Count I of the complaint alleges that Chapter 38-1 et seq. of the Fort Lauderdale Code was unconstitutional as applied to Plaintiffs. Specifically, Plaintiffs attack Chapter 38-9 of the Code (hereinafter the charitable solicitation ordinance) which provides:

It shall be unlawful for any person or organization to solicit gifts or donations ■ for charitable or religious purposes within the city, without first having obtained a permit therefor from the chief license inspector.

In essence Plaintiffs allege that Defendants, City of Fort Lauderdale, Donald R. Hall and Jim Turner applied “the Ordinance in such as [sic] way as to exempt some [religious] denominations from the registration and reporting requirements, [and that by so doing], the defendants confer a benefit upon some religions as opposed to others. Such official denomiational preference is forbidden by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” See DE 1 at 5 1120.

Summary judgments may be granted on the basis of “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, showpng] that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” F.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

Attached to Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction (DE 2) is the declaration of William Taylor. The parties stipulated in open court on July 12, 1982, at the hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, that the statements contained within the declaration were true and correct. The Court therefore incorporates by reference the statements made by Mr. Taylor in this order.

[516]*516Mr. Taylor’s declaration relays in pertinent part that:

1. he is the public relations director for the Unification Church and is responsible for the area encompassing the State of Florida;
2. he obtained solicitation permits on behalf of the church for the years 1979 through 1981;
3. he learned from Defendant Turner, on May 4, 1982, confirmation of the fact that the City of Fort Lauderdale did not require all religions soliciting donations within the city to obtain permits. Turner related that only those religious organizations that solicited outside were required to obtain permits;
4. he inspected a list of permit holders from the City and determined that no Fort Lauderdale Churches which regularly solicit donations were permit holders;
5. the Unification Church was founded in 1954, and is established in 120 counties; and
6. the Unification Church emphasizes evangelical missionary work and employs door to door solicitation and public place proselytizing to support the Church.

In addition to this declaration there is the testimony of Defendant James Turner which was elicited on July 12, 1982 at the hearing on Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Defendants assert that this testimony is equivocal and therefore presents a genuine issue of material fact which would preclude summary judgment as to Count I. See DE 37 ¶ 1. The Court notes, however, that Defendants have filed no affidavits nor adduced any additional testimony at the hearing on motion for summary judgment which would clarify the alleged equivocation in Turner’s testimony.

It is conceivable that if one read Turner’s testimony piecemeal it would appear equivocal and/or contradictory. The Court has reviewed the testimony of James Turner and finds that, when read in its entirety, there are no mutually exclusive statements which would warrant a determination that the testimony was equivocal or contradictory. Defendants’ argument of a genuine issue of material fact is premised upon references to isolated instances in Turner’s testimony. This Court is of the view that fairness dictates consideration of testimony as a whole, with due regard to the internal consistency contained within the testimony.

Mr. Turner's testimony revealed that he has been the Chief License Inspector for the City of Fort Lauderdale since 1981. He was appointed to that position through the City Manager’s office. Mr. Turner stated that he had been with the City for twenty three years and he “took the law the way it had been applied for the previous years____” R at 5. Mr. Turner then goes on to state that permits are required for solicitation on the streets of Fort Lauder-dale. R at 6. He goes on to state that no permit would be required for “passing the collection plate.” R at 7, 8. Mr. Turner further agreed that the “route” the City has taken in issuing permits is that “for a traditional organization inside its own house of worship, that solicitation would not require a permit”, R at 7, but that regardless of the denomination, every church would be required to obtain a permit to solicit out of doors. R at 7-8. It is clear from the transcript that the word “traditional” connotes Catholic, Baptist, Protestant and Jewish religions.

Turner testified that there is a place on the application, at page 2, question 6, requesting the “place” of solicitation. R at 11. This reference was culled from a permit application that had been tiled by Plaintiffs in 1982 for a permit to solicit in a Holiday Inn. R at 12. Turner then states that in addition to groups soliciting outdoors, groups that are not soliciting in their “specific churches” must have a permit. R at 12.

All of this testimony was elicited by Plaintiffs’ counsel on direct examination of Turner, who was called as an adverse witness. It is interesting to note that counsel for the Defendants charged in Count I [517]*517declined the opportunity to cross examine the witness, again passing up a chance to clarify any perceived equivocation. The bottom line of Turner’s testimony is that the City through its officials, have construed the charitable solicitation ordinance to require permits for all outdoor solicitations, as well as any religious solicitations attempted indoors where that solicitation is not to be accomplished within the religion’s specific church edifice. If indeed there was a genuine issue as to these facts, from Defendants’ perspective, the Court is at a loss to determine why they have allowed several opportunities to point out the disputed facts to pass. It is axiomatic that the mere suggestion of a genuine issue of material fact is insufficient to, in and of itself, defeat a motion for summary judgment. Curl v. International Business Machines, 517 F.2d 212 (5th Cir.1975). The fact that the parties differ on the legal conclusions to be drawn from the facts in the record is not a bar to summary judgment. Sagers v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 529 F.2d 721 (5th Cir.1976).

In this case there is no genuine dispute as to the material facts perceivable to the Court. Consequently the first requirement for a summary judgment has been met.

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583 F. Supp. 514, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-city-of-fort-lauderdale-flsd-1984.