Walker v. City of Kansas City

911 F.2d 80, 1990 WL 111474
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 7, 1990
DocketNos. 89-1001, 89-1057
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 911 F.2d 80 (Walker v. City of Kansas City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walker v. City of Kansas City, 911 F.2d 80, 1990 WL 111474 (8th Cir. 1990).

Opinions

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

In June 1985, appellant Joe E. Walker, Jr., submitted a rezoning application to the Kansas City Plan Commission requesting that his property be granted a District C-X zoning classification, which would permit him to display go-go girls in his drinking establishment, the Last Chance Lounge. The Commission recommended approval of the zoning change, which permitted Walker’s application to be forwarded to the City Council for consideration. Kansas City, Mo., Zoning Ordinance [83]*83§ 39.360(1) (1987). The Plans and Zoning Committee of the City Council held a series of hearings on the application, but over a year passed without a decision. Shortly before the City Council denied his application, Walker brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Kansas City and its Mayor and Council members alleging that they had violated his constitutional rights’ to free speech and due process and that the defendants had conspired to deprive him of his civil rights. He sought both an injunction and damages. After a hearing on Walker’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which was converted into a trial on the merits of the case, the District Court found no due process violation, but held that the zoning ordinance violated Walker’s First Amendment rights. Walker v. City of Kansas City, Mo. (Walker I), 691 F.Supp. 1243 (W.D.Mo.1988). Following hearings on the scope of relief, the court enjoined the city from enforcing the ordinance against Walker and, rejecting Walker’s argument for compensatory damages, awarded nominal damages. Walker v. City of Kansas City, Mo. (Walker II), 697 F.Supp. 1088 (W.D.Mo.1988). The court also awarded attorney fees to Walker. On appeal, Walker contests the trial court’s dismissal of the individual City Council members, rejection of his due process claim, limitation of damages to nominal rather than compensatory, and denial of his motion for a new trial on the compensatory damages issue. The city cross-appeals the court’s First Amendment holding and the award of nominal damages and attorney fees. We reverse the judgment for Walker on his First Amendment claim and vacate the injunction and the award of nominal damages and attorney fees. In all other respects, we affirm.1

I.

Section 39.156(11) of the Kansas City Zoning Ordinance requires that a District C-X classification be approved by the City Council antecedent to the establishment of a variety of sex-related businesses,2 including that which Walker intended to institute in the Last Chance Lounge — “exotic dancing.” An “exotic dance facility” is defined in the ordinance as

Any building, structure or facility which contains, or is used for commercial entertainment, where the patron directly or indirectly is charged a fee to observe “specified anatomical areas,” provided that the genitals and pubic area of all persons and the areola and nipple of the breasts of all female persons are opaquely covered.

“Specified anatomical areas” entail:

1. Less than completely or opaquely covered:
(a) Human genitals, pubic region,
(b) Buttocks,
(c) Female breast area below a point immediately above the top of the areo-la.
2. Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state even if completely and opaquely covered.

Kansas City, Mo., Zoning Ordinance § 39.156(I)(I) & (P).

The particular brand of exotic dancing we deal with here — it was stressed by John Frankum, the attorney representing Walker during the Council hearings3 — is go-go dancing. Frankum objected to the deroga[84]*84tory connotation implicit in the term “exotic dancers,” claiming that the expression was misleading. The sort of person who is interested in go-go dancers, he explained, would not necessarily be “something less than someone who would want to watch the Kansas City Symphony.” Amending ch. 65, Rev. Ordinances of Kansas City, Mo., 1956: Summary of Hearings on § 65.010A1952, Plans and Zoning Committee [hereinafter Zoning Committee Hearings] (May 7, 1987) (paraphrased statements of John Frankum). However characterized, Walker planned for his go-go girls to dance, for the pleasure of the customers of his bar, attired in bikini bottoms and “pasties,” i.e., adhesive material covering only the areolas of the girls’ breasts. The girls would be permitted by Walker, however, to cover more of their breasts, as they preferred. Id. (statements of John Frankum). In any event, the sort of entertainment Walker hoped to provide at his establishment is undoubtedly covered by section 39.156 of the Kansas City zoning ordinance, and Walker does not argue to the contrary.

Because the Last Chance Lounge is located within one thousand feet of a residential district, Walker was not eligible for a District C-X classification for that property unless he could obtain the signatures of a simple majority of the residents and property owners within a radius of one thousand feet. There is no time limit to acquiring the signatures and so, ten months after filing his application, Walker presented the City Plan Commission with a waiver petition containing the names of nineteen of the thirty-seven residents located near his lounge.4 That same day, in April 1986, the Commission approved the waiver and recommended approval of the application, which was forwarded to the City Council.5

The Plans and Zoning Committee of the City Council discussed Walker’s application at length during a series of meetings held at intervals throughout the ensuing period of approximately twenty months. Presentations by citizens opposed to the rezoning classification consumed the bulk of the hearings; indeed, except for the remarks of Council members and Walker’s attorneys, discussion at the meetings consisted entirely of the protestations of private citizens in opposition to the rezoning. In all, roughly forty to fifty people spoke against the zoning change.6 Zoning Committee Hearings (May 28, 1987). Eventually the matter reached the full Council (without a recommendation from the committee), and on December 17, 1987, the Council voted to reject the application.

In October 1987, approximately two months before the Council’s vote, Walker brought this lawsuit alleging that the zoning ordinance violated his free speech and due process rights under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. In December he moved for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. Failing to pursue this motion, Walker filed a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction some weeks later. In the interim the city and the Council members — whom Walker had sued in their individual capacities — filed a motion to dismiss, which the District Court granted as to the individual Council members. Subsequent to the hearing on the preliminary injunction, the parties agreed to treat that hearing as a trial on the merits and thus submitted post-trial briefs. In addition to the testimony adduced at the [85]*85hearing, the court received reams of city documents and videotapes of various City Council meetings.

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Bluebook (online)
911 F.2d 80, 1990 WL 111474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-city-of-kansas-city-ca8-1990.