Lamar's First Punch to Elmira Township;
August 12, 2004
Issues: First Amendment
free speech rights; Unlawful prior restraint on commercial speech; Township’s
refusal to allow plaintiff to go forward with billboard construction along a
state highway on the basis of later-enacted ordinances; Michigan’s Highway
Advertising Act (MHAA); Whether plaintiff’s claims were ripe for review;
Williamson County Reg'l Planning Comm'n
v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City
Court: U.S. District Court
Eastern District of Michigan
Case Name: Lamar Adver. Co. v. Township of Elmira
e-Journal Number: 24114
Judge(s): Lawson
Since plaintiff satisfied all the requirements of the
applicable laws in place when it applied for permission to erect the billboard
at issue, defendant-township's refusal to permit plaintiff to go forward with
construction of the billboard along a state highway on the basis of the
township's subsequently enacted ordinance constituted an unlawful prior
restraint of commercial speech.
Plaintiff, as part of its outdoor advertising
business, builds billboards on locations it leases or owns and then charges
advertisers a fee for displaying commercial and noncommercial messages on its
billboards.
When plaintiff applied for permits to construct the
billboard, only the Michigan Department of Transportation had jurisdiction to
regulate the area where the billboard was to be located — the township had not
yet enacted an ordinance under the MHAA.
The court concluded it was plain from the undisputed
facts plaintiff's application should have been granted under the rules in
effect as of its application date and the township deprived plaintiff of its
First Amendment rights by denying plaintiff a permit based on an improper
interpretation of the zoning ordinance. The law in effect when plaintiff
filed its applications did not disallow construction of a billboard at the
location in question.
Plaintiff was granted summary judgment.