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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Courts - "Federal judge rejects LCJ’s bid to block enforcement of city’s anti-litter ordinance"

Sean Rose reports in the Sept. 12th Louisville Courier Journal - some quotes:

A federal judge has rejected The Courier-Journal's effort to block enforcement of a Louisville anti-litter ordinance the newspaper says violates constitutional protections of free speech and the press.

In an opinion issued Friday, Judge Charles R. Simpson III concluded that "there is little likelihood that the Courier will succeed on the merits of its claims" in a lawsuit the newspaper filed after the Metro Council passed the ordinance in June.

The ordinance, which took effect in August, requires unsolicited print materials to be delivered to a specific place, like a porch or mailbox, rather than tossed on a lawn or driveway.

The ordinance affects anyone delivering fliers or other printed materials, but it was prompted by Courier-Journal advertising supplements. At the time the ordinance was adopted, the newspaper was delivering some 340,000 copies of the supplements weekly.

The ordinance does not apply to the newspaper itself, since it is delivered to subscribers.

In legal documents, the city described the newspaper’s delivery of the ad supplements as a “fly-and-fling method of distribution, accomplished under cover of darkness.


Unsolicited materials “are being haphazardly delivered throughout Metro Louisville … on sidewalks, yards, and driveways with no means to ensure that such items do not add to the litter problem created,” according to the preamble to the ordinance, which Simpson cited in his opinion. The preamble said the materials contribute to “visual blight.” ” * * *

“Despite the Courier’s protestations to the contrary, the speech in issue here is purely commercial,” Simpson wrote in denying the newspaper’s request for the injunction. He added that “directly or indirectly,” the ad supplements “are designed to increase Courier-Journal revenues.”

Simpson noted that the ordinance allows ad supplements to be delivered as long as they are placed in the approved places.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 13, 2009 11:07 AM
Posted to Courts in general