W.D.C., Inc. v. City of Jacksonville

710 F. Supp. 782, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3228, 1989 WL 31244
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 21, 1989
DocketNo. 88-32-Civ-J-12
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 710 F. Supp. 782 (W.D.C., Inc. v. City of Jacksonville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
W.D.C., Inc. v. City of Jacksonville, 710 F. Supp. 782, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3228, 1989 WL 31244 (M.D. Fla. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT FOR DEFENDANT

MELTON, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on two motions: (1) defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, filed herein on April 21, 1988, to which plaintiff filed a response on May 26, 1988; and (2) plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, filed herein on August 8, 1988, to which defendant responded with a short memorandum in opposition thereto, filed herein on August 22, 1988. For the reasons stated in this order, the Court will deny plaintiff's motion, grant defendant’s motion, and direct the entry of judgment for defendant.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff, W.D.C., Inc. (“WDC”), operates a nightclub known as Fantasy World, at which adult entertainment is presented. Prior to October 1, 1987, WDC featured nonobscene topless dancing and served alcoholic beverages during those performances. WDC is duly licensed to serve alcoholic beverages to patrons for consumption on the premises.

[783]*783Defendant, City of Jacksonville (“City”), is a political subdivision of the State of Florida with the responsibility and authority under state law to regulate various aspects of the commerce in intoxicating liquors within the boundaries of that portion of the state known as the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. Pursuant to that authority, the City enacted Ordinance 87-270-186 on April 1, 1987, with an effective date of October 1, 1987. This ordinance is codified in the City Municipal Code, §§ 150.601 —.610. The ordinance prohibits nude or seminude entertainment, defined by reference to the display of specified anatomical parts, at any commercial establishment at which alcoholic beverages are, or are available to be, sold, dispensed, consumed, possessed or offered for sale or consumption on the premises. The ordinance does not differentiate between establishments that serve exclusively alcoholic beverages produced wholly within the State of Florida (hereinafter “domestic alcohol”), and establishments that also serve alcoholic beverages produced outside the State of Florida but transported or imported into it (hereinafter “imported alcohol”).

The City’s adult entertainment ordinance effectively outlaws WDC’s prior practice of serving alcoholic beverages and offering topless dancing as entertainment. However, WDC has stated its intention to purchase and serve only domestic alcohol while featuring nude or seminude entertainment. The City concedes for the purposes of the present motions that WDC can purchase and serve domestic alcohol exclusively. The City further concedes that WDC will offer entertainment prohibited by the adult entertainment ordinance while serving domestic alcohol, but the City states its intention to prosecute such actions as violations of the ordinance.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff commenced this suit on January 13, 1988, by filing a verified complaint alleging deprivation of first amendment rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and seeking a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the adult entertainment ordinance. This Court turned down that request. See Order Denying Application for Preliminary Injunction, entered Feb, 12, 1988, appeal dismissed, No. 88-3167 (11th Cir. Aug. 10, 1988). Thereafter, at the preliminary pretrial conference in this case, the parties agreed that the issue of liability could be determined in large on cross motions for summary judgment following a period of limited discovery. All motions and responses are now filed; WDC maintains that partial summary judgment may be entered in its favor and the City asserts that summary judgment as to the whole case may be entered in its favor. The Court agrees that the material facts are not in dispute and a decision may be rendered in the City’s favor as a matter of law.

III. PLAINTIFF’S LEGAL THEORY

This suit turns on a narrow issue of law involving the interpretation of the twenty-first amendment. An unbroken line of cases since 1972 affirms the authority of state governmental units to regulate nude and seminude entertainment within the confines of establishments which serve alcoholic beverages. Newport v. Iacobucci, 479 U.S. 92, 107 S.Ct. 383, 93 L.Ed.2d 334 (1986); New York State Liquor Auth. v. Bellanca, 452 U.S. 714, 101 S.Ct. 2599, 69 L.Ed.2d 357 (1981); California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109, 93 S.Ct. 390, 34 L.Ed.2d 342 (1972). This authority finds root in the twenty-first amendment. See Jorgenson v. Volusia County, 846 F.2d 1350, 1351-52 (11th Cir.1988); Krueger v. Pensacola, 759 F.2d 851, 852 (11th Cir.1985). Consequently, the debate now focuses on when the twenty-first amendment confers the added presumption accorded state authority over public health, welfare, and morals that protects the regulation of nude entertainment in taverns from more searching constitutional scrutiny.

Interpretation of the twenty-first amendment cannot overlook three unique aspects of the amendment. First, it repeals the eighteenth amendment, see U.S. Const. amend. XXI, § 1, which had imposed a national prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages. Second, the twenty-first [784]*784amendment is the only change in the Constitution since the original ratification to be accomplished by conventions convened by the states solely for the purpose of ratification. See generally Brown, The Ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, 29 Am.Poli.Sci.Rev. 1005 (1935). Third, and most clearly at issue, the amendment expressly commits control over the commerce in intoxicating liquors to the states. This last matter is accomplished in the following terms:

The transportation or importation into any State, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

U.S. Const. amend. XXI, § 2. WDC argues that the language regarding “transportation or importation into any State” limits the reach of the twenty-first amendment’s added presumption to regulations governing establishments that serve imported alcohol. WDC maintains that application of the City’s adult entertainment ordinance to an establishment that serves only domestic alcohol must be tested by the stricter standards applied to the regulation of nude entertainment when the twenty-first amendment cannot be invoked.

WDC’s legal theory finds solace in Justice Stevens’ dissent in Iacobucci. Continuing a critique of the Court’s twenty-first amendment analysis which he began in Bellanca, Justice Stevens observed:

One of the anomalies of the Court’s approach is that Newport’s ordinance would presumably be subject to vastly different scrutiny were a bar owner to sell only liquor that is produced within the State. Since the Twenty-First Amendment deals only with a State’s power to regulate “transportation or importation into” the State, it would have no effect on a Kentucky bar selling Kentucky bourbon. In such a case, the full force of the First Amendment would apply.

Iacobucci, 479 U.S. at 102 n. 7, 107 S.Ct. at 389 n.

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Bluebook (online)
710 F. Supp. 782, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3228, 1989 WL 31244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wdc-inc-v-city-of-jacksonville-flmd-1989.