Vance Murphy, D/B/A the Store v. The Honorable Scott Matheson, Individually and as Governor of the State of Utah

742 F.2d 564, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 19323
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 22, 1984
Docket82-1701
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 742 F.2d 564 (Vance Murphy, D/B/A the Store v. The Honorable Scott Matheson, Individually and as Governor of the State of Utah) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vance Murphy, D/B/A the Store v. The Honorable Scott Matheson, Individually and as Governor of the State of Utah, 742 F.2d 564, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 19323 (10th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

This case presents a pre-enforcement facial challenge to the constitutionality of Utah’s Drug Paraphernalia Act, Utah Code Ann. § 58-37a-l to -6 (Supp.1983) (Utah Act). Plaintiffs are owners and operators of The Store in Ogden, Utah and The Village Idiot in Salt Lake City, Utah, which are businesses that sell a variety of smoking accessories. Plaintiffs charge that the Utah Act is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest, and infringes on due process guarantees. The district court upheld the Act’s validity. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I

The factual background

A.

In 1981, the Utah Legislature enacted the Utah Drug Paraphernalia Act 1 in order “to discourage the use of narcotics by eliminating paraphernalia designed for processing, ingesting, or otherwise using a controlled substance.” Utah Code Ann. § 58-37a-2. The enactment is based on the Model Drug Paraphernalia Act (Model Act), 2 drafted by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice. It took effect on July 1, 1981.

The Utah Act defines drug paraphernalia as “any equipment, product, or material used, or intended for use” with a controlled substance. Utah Code Ann. § 58-37a-3. This general definition is followed by a list of twelve non-exhaustive examples of drug paraphernalia; each example reiterates the scienter requirement in the first part of the definition. Id. The Act then identifies thirteen non-exhaustive factors that a trier of fact should consider in determining whether a particular object constitutes drug paraphernalia. Id. § 58-37a-4. Criminal liability is imposed for the possession, manufacture, delivery, and advertisement of drug paraphernalia. 3 Id. § 58- *567 37a-5. Finally, drug paraphernalia is subject to seizure and forfeiture. Id. § 58-37a-6.

B.

Plaintiffs brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202, seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to enjoin defendants from enforcing the Act and seeking also a declaratory judgment that the Act is unconstitutional under the United States Constitution. An evidentiary hearing was held on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which was thereafter denied. A trial on the merits followed, with the evidence received at the preliminary injunction hearing being preserved and made part of the record.

The trial court later entered judgment in favor of defendants, ruling that the Utah Act “is neither unconstitutionally vague nor overbroad in violation of the United States Constitution nor does it violate the First Amendment rights of plaintiffs or other persons.” I R. 132. The court found that the inclusion of “a high specific intent requirement” provides notice to the public of what conduct is prohibited; that the Act is not vague since it gives a person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what kind of conduct is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly; that the various standards contained in the Act are sufficiently detailed and explicit so that they would not trap the innocent by failing to give fair warning; and that the Act provides sufficiently explicit standards so that those who enforce the Act are not likely to do so in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. Id. at 131-32.

On appeal, plaintiffs’ principal arguments for reversal are: (1) the Act is unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) the Act is unconstitutionally overbroad by restricting the free flow of commercial and noncommercial speech, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments; and (3) the Act’s forfeiture clause violates the Due Process Clause because it does not provide for a hearing. We address the overbreadth and vagueness assertions first, mindful that:

In a facial challenge to the over-breadth and vagueness of a law, a court’s first task is to determine whether the enactment reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct. If it does not, then the over-breadth challenge must fail. The court should then examine the facial vagueness challenge and, assuming the enactment implicates no constitutionally protected conduct, should uphold the challenge only if the enactment is impermissibly vague in all of its applications.

Village of Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 494, 102 S.Ct. 1186, 1191, 71 L.Ed.2d 362 (1982) (footnotes omitted).

II

Overbreadth

Under the overbreadth doctrine, “[gjiven a ease or controversy, a litigant whose own activities are unprotected may nevertheless challenge a statute by showing that it substantially infringes .the First Amendment rights of other parties not before the court.” Village of Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U.S. 620, 634,100 S.Ct. 826, 834, 63 L.Ed.2d 73 (1980). This exception to the “traditional rules governing constitutional adjudication” is justified because of a “judicial prediction or assumption that the statute’s very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression.” Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 610-12, 93 S.Ct. 2908, 2914-15, 37 L.Ed.2d 830 (1973).

*568 Plaintiffs argue that the Utah Act is unconstitutionally overbroad by restricting the free flow of commercial speech. They say that the ban on printed advertising in § 5 of the Act could (1) be used against advertisers or publishers who place ads in printed media for circulation outside the State; (2) prohibit Utah residents from receiving information about items deemed “drug paraphernalia” here which are available in other jurisdictions which do not prohibit their use; and (3) have a chilling effect on the advertising of legitimate objects. Brief of Appellants 29. They also contend that relevant factors (8), “National and local advertising concerning its use,” and (9), “The manner in which the object is displayed for sale,” in § 4, improperly interfere with their own advertising, pointing out that they advertise their wares by display in their stores or by radio. Id. at vii, 27-28.

Plaintiffs’ contention that the statute’s printed advertising ban has an overbroad scope encompassing protected commercial speech rights of others has been foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s decision in

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

Related

Tracy v. Stephens
D. Utah, 2022
Dias v. City and County of Denver
567 F.3d 1169 (Tenth Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Franklin-El
554 F.3d 903 (Tenth Circuit, 2009)
Ward v. State of Utah
398 F.3d 1239 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Pourhassan
148 F. Supp. 2d 1185 (D. Utah, 2001)
National Council for Improved Health v. Shalala
122 F.3d 878 (Tenth Circuit, 1997)
Mood for a Day, Inc. v. Salt Lake County
953 F. Supp. 1252 (D. Utah, 1995)
In Re Advisory From the Governor
633 A.2d 664 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1993)
Gay Men's Health Crisis v. Sullivan
792 F. Supp. 278 (S.D. New York, 1992)
Allright Colorado, Inc. v. City & County of Denver
937 F.2d 1502 (Tenth Circuit, 1991)
United States v. Dyer
750 F. Supp. 1278 (E.D. Virginia, 1990)
United States v. Main Street Distributing Inc.
700 F. Supp. 655 (E.D. New York, 1988)
Ferguson v. Garmon
643 F. Supp. 335 (D. Kansas, 1986)
D.C. & M.S. v. City of St. Louis
795 F.2d 652 (Eighth Circuit, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
742 F.2d 564, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 19323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vance-murphy-dba-the-store-v-the-honorable-scott-matheson-individually-ca10-1984.