L.D. MANAGEMENT COMPANY; AMERICAN PRIDE IX, INC., DBA LION’S DEN ADULT SUPERSTORE v. JIM GRAY, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET - Articles

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L.D. MANAGEMENT COMPANY; AMERICAN PRIDE IX, INC., DBA LION’S DEN ADULT SUPERSTORE v. JIM GRAY, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 16, 2021

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Kyle W. Ray, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: J. Michael Murray, BERKMAN, GORDON, MURRAY & DEVAN, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellees.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Kyle W. Ray, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET, Lexington, Kentucky, William H. Fogle, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: J. Michael Murray, Steven D. Shafron, BERKMAN, GORDON, MURRAY & DEVAN, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellees.

Attorneys 5: ON BRIEF: Thomas FitzGerald, KENTUCKY RESOURCES COUNCIL, INC., Frankfort, Kentucky, for Amicus Curiae.

Judge(s): SUTTON, BUSH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville

SUTTON, Circuit Judge. Lion’s Den displays a billboard, affixed to a tractor-trailer, on a neighbor’s property that advertises its nearby adult bookstore. Kentucky’s Billboard Act prohibits such off-site billboards when, as in this case, the advertisement is not securely affixed to the ground, the sign is attached to a mobile structure, and no permit has been obtained. None of these requirements applies to an on-site billboard advertisement, and the Act applies equally to commercial and non-commercial speech on billboards. In response to a First (and Fourteenth) Amendment challenge to the Act, the district court prohibited the Commonwealth from enforcing its law. We affirm, as the Billboard Act regulates commercial and non-commercial speech on content-based grounds and is not tailored to achieve Kentucky’s purported interests.

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