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Timestamp: 2019-04-19 08:51:30+00:00

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MARSHFIELD FAMILY SKATELAND, INC., & others [Note 1] vs. TOWN OF MARSHFIELD (and five consolidated cases [Note 2]).
CIVIL ACTIONS commenced in the Superior Court Department on August 12, August 16, September 1, and October 6, 1982.
The cases were consolidated for trial and were heard by Ford, J.
Ira H. Zaleznik (Barry E. Rosenthal with him) for Marshfield Family Skateland, Inc., & others.
operation of these devices in certain business zones, and a new by-law that would provide for licensing of the devices.
At the annual town meeting in June, 1982, however, the voters defeated the proposals and adopted instead an alternative amendment, General By-Law No. 48 (art. 57 of the town meeting warrant) expressly prohibiting the operation of "any mechanical or electronic amusement device, whether coin-operated or not," with certain exceptions. [Note 3] General By-Law No. 48 was then submitted to the Attorney General for his approval pursuant to G. L. c. 40, Section 32.
After passage of General By-Law No. 48, but before its approval by the Attorney General, the building inspector for the town of Marshfield commenced enforcement of the zoning by-law adopted in 1972, by sending violation notices to all persons operating coin-operated amusement devices, ordering them to cease such use of their property. The plaintiff merchants refused to cease operating the amusement devices and in August, 1982, the building inspector instituted court proceedings against them.
In order to expedite proceedings in the Superior Court, the parties presented a statement of agreed facts. Also by agreement, the merchants developed and submitted a videotape demonstration of parts of the audio visual work of five different video games, along with a written explanation of the videotape. The Superior Court judge held a hearing on these matters. Subsequently, he issued a memorandum of decision applicable to all six cases in which he declined to invalidate the Marshfield by-law. Judgments were entered in all the cases. The merchants then filed their notices of appeal to the Appeals Court, and all actions were consolidated on appeal by order of a single justice of that court. We granted the plaintiffs' application for direct appellate review.
to preclude operation of coin-operated amusement devices, the by-law is invalid for the same reasons that General By-Law No. 48 is invalid. We conclude that General By-Law No. 48 is a proper exercise of the town of Marshfield's police power and we reject all the merchants' arguments as to its invalidity. Since we uphold the express prohibition of coin-activated amusement devices under General By-Law No. 48, we need not address the issues raised with regard to the more general provisions of the 1972 zoning by-law.
1. The merchants' first contention is that General By-Law No. 48 is invalid because it is inconsistent with State law. They assert initially that where, as here, a by-law results in a total ban of a particular activity, we should shift the burden of justifying the exclusion to the municipality. See e.g., Beaver Gasoline Co. v. Osborne Borough, 445 Pa. 571, 576-577 (1971). We do not follow this so called "Pennsylvania rule," see Lambros, Inc. v. Ocean Ridge, 392 So.2d 993, 994 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1981), but rather we adhere to the view that every presumption will be made in favor of the validity of a by-law or ordinance. See, e.g., Shell Oil Co. v. Revere, 383 Mass. 682 , 686 (1981) (considering a city ordinance banning self-service gasoline stations); John Donnelly & Sons v. Outdoor Advertising Bd., 369 Mass. 206 , 216 (1975) (considering by-law in effect prohibiting billboards even in business districts).
`repugnant' local ordinances or by-laws." Id. at 155. Under this approach, we emphasized, "[t]he legislative intent to preclude local action must be clear" (footnote omitted). Id. We noted that there where State laws on a particular subject are comprehensive or where the Legislature has explicitly limited the manner in which cities and towns may act on a subject, a locality's right to act on that subject may be preempted. Id. A local by-law may also be deemed inconsistent where it prevents a legislative purpose from being achieved. Id.
In this case, the merchants urge that the local by-law's prohibition of the keeping and use of coin-activated, mechanical, and electronic amusement devices conflicts with G. L. c. 140, Section 177A, the statutory provision which allows municipalities to license "automatic amusement device[s]" as defined in that section. Under General By-Law No. 48 a "mechanical or electronic automatic amusement device" is defined as including but not limited to the devices defined under G. L. c. 140, Section 177A. The merchants claim that the by-law is inconsistent with G. L. c. 140, Section 177A, because it prevents the achievement of the legislative purpose behind G. L. c. 140, Section 177A. We disagree. Prior to the enactment of Section 177A, we held in Commonwealth v. Rivers, 323 Mass. 379 , 383 (1948), that "free play" pinball machines and similar devices were illegal lotteries under G. L. c. 271, Section 7. Section 177A was enacted shortly after our decision in Rivers "for the purpose of permitting the use and maintenence of automatic amusement devices such as pinball machines, including `free play' pinball machines, if duly licensed and if used for amusement only." Commonwealth v. Macomber, 333 Mass. 298 , 301 (1955). Thus, one purpose of Section 177A was clearly to remove coin-activated amusement devices from the ambit of the gambling laws and to allow localities to license these games. General By-Law No. 48 does not prevent this purpose from being achieved.
to ban all automatic amusement devices. They rely heavily on our decision in Turnpike Amusement Park, Inc. v. Licensing Comm'n of Cambridge, 343 Mass. 435 , 438 (1962), where we determined that G. L. c. 140, Section 177A, does not give local licensing authorities the power to impose an over-all ban on automatic amusement devices. Our reasoning in Turnpike Amusement Park, Inc., however, is not controlling in the case at bar. The power of a local licensing board to issue licenses under G. L. c. 140, Section 177A, is created and defined entirely by the provisions of G. L. c. 140, Section 177A. Hence, a licensing board, although it may exercise its broad grant of discretion under the statute to grant or to deny licenses, may not go beyond that statutory grant and adopt a broad policy of denying all licenses. In contrast, local communities, through their by-laws, may supplement the statutory provisions so long as their by-laws are not inconsistent with any State law. See John Donnelly & Sons, supra at 214, and cases cited. Hence, the town of Marshfield may do what the licensing board may not do--namely, determine that it will not allow any licenses to be issued. It is clear that in some areas of activity legal business activities regulated by State law may be prohibited by local by-laws. John Donnelly & Sons, supra at 214, 222. Section 177A does not reveal any intent by the Legislature to vary this rule. Rather, Section 177A reveals only the Legislature's intent to convert the operation of "free play" coin-activated amusement devices from the status of illegal lotteries under the Rivers decision to that of legal, regulated activities permitted but not required to operate in a community.
contention with regard to video game entertainment.
video games, which are, in essence, only technologically advanced pinball machines, are entitled to constitutional protection.
The merchants further submit that even if the video game entertainment which they seek to present is not protected expression, General By-Law No. 48 is, nevertheless, void under the overbreadth doctrine because it prohibits many forms of expression. They argue, that on its face, the Marshfield by-law would prohibit the operation of coinactivated movie machines, i.e., peep shows, which "are fully protected by the First Amendment." Fantasy Book Shop, Inc. v. Boston, 652 F.2d 1115, 1124 n.12 (1st Cir. 1981). The merchants, thus, contend that we should invalidate Marshfield's General By-Law No. 48.
We conclude, however, that the merchants may not rely upon the doctrine of overbreadth in this case. In Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 610 (1973), the Court acknowledged that the general rule is that a person to whom a statute may be applied constitutionally will not be allowed to challenge the statute on the ground that it may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally to others in situations not before the Court. The Court explained that since "the First Amendment needs breathing space . . . [l]itigants . . . are permitted to challenge a statute not because their own rights of free expression are violated, but because of a judicial prediction or assumption that the statute's very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression." Id. at 611-612. The Court admonished, however, that because the overbreadth standing doctrine is "manifestly, strong medicine," the Court has employed it sparingly. Id. at 613. In Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 60 (1976), quoting Erznoznik v. Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 216 (1975), the Court further explained that, if a statute's deterrent effect on protected expression is not "both real and substantial" and if the statute is "readily subject to a narrowing construction," the doctrine of overbreadth may not be employed.
In this case, the merchants have not demonstrated either substantial overbreadth or substantial deterrent effect. Their only possible claim of deterrence is that persons desiring to engage in the operation of coin-activated movies in Marshfield may refrain from doing so out of fear that the Marshfield by-law might be applied to prohibit their actions. The merchants, however, have shown that the by-law would bar only one form of protected expression--coin-activated movies. This potential prohibition of one form of entertainment is not substantial overbreadth. Contrast Shad v. Borough of Mt. Ephraim, 452 U.S. 61, 66 (1981) (ordinance prohibited all forms of live entertainment). Moreover, it appears unlikely that potential operators of coin-activated movies would be chilled from applying for a license because of the existence of General By-Law No. 48. Rather, they would probably be as willing to apply for a license as are the merchants in this case and, if denied a license on the basis of the by-law, to litigate its constitutionality. For these reasons, we conclude that the merchants may not rely on the overbreadth doctrine to invalidate a by-law which may be applied constitutionally to their own activities. See Young, supra at 60-61; Broadrick, supra at 615-618; Aristocratic Restaurant of Mass., Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n (No. 1), 374 Mass. 547 , 555-557, appeal dismissed, 439 U.S. 803 (1978).
372 Mass. 423 , 433 (1977). Under the rational basis test, "the person making the challenge has an onerous burden of proof in establishing the invalidity of the statute." Commonwealth v. Henry's Drywall Co., supra at 541. In applying the rational basis standard, we have stated that "[i]f a statute or ordinance serves a legitimate purpose, and if the means the State adopted are rationally related to the achievement of that purpose, the legislation will withstand constitutional challenge" (footnote omitted). Shell Oil Co. v. Revere, 383 Mass. 682 , 686 (1981). We have further explained that "a statutory classification will not be set aside as a denial of equal protection or due process if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it." Henry's Drywall Co., supra. The plaintiffs claim that the Marsh-field by-law violates their rights to due process and equal protection because it is not rationally related to permissible legislative objectives and because the singling out of commercially operated amusement devices is an irrational classification. We disagree.
basis for the prohibition. Breard, supra. A town's possible purposes in adopting an ordinance like the instant one may include a number of permissible objectives. For example, it would be reasonable for a town to prohibit the commercial operation of these games to further the legitimate objectives of decreasing noise, traffic, and congestion in the area of the businesses operating the games. Indeed, the record submitted in this case demonstrates that the operation of these games contributes to such problems. From the offer of proof of Marshfield and an affidavit of a retired police officer of Marshfield, it appears that Marshfield is a resort community located on the coast; that a substantial proportion of the influx of summer residents to Marshfield each year are single males under twenty-one years of age; that the Marshfield police department has to increase police patrols in the beach areas during the summer season to maintain order; that any business which causes concentration of young people, particularly in the beach areas in the summer, increases the potential for disorderly conduct as well as the burden on the police department; and that automatic amusement devices do attract as patrons large numbers of young people. Although the by-law in this case might have been drawn more narrowly, for example, to prohibit the operation of these games during only the summer season, we emphasize that "[a] statute or ordinance is not rendered unconstitutional merely because the evidence of record suggests that the `ultimate efficacy' of achieving the statutory purpose is in question, or that the means to achieve the statutory end is rough, illogical or not the best available, or that the means stated in the statute is not perfectly consistent with the desired result" (footnotes omitted). Shell Oil Co., supra at 687. "[L]egislative bodies `are not required to convince the courts of the correctness of their legislative judgments.' " Shell Oil Co., supra at 688, quoting Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 449 U.S. 456, 464 (1981).
we do not invalidate it. Accordingly, we reject the merchants' arguments based on both equal protection and due process, and we uphold the validity of General By-Law No. 48.
[Note 1] The other plaintiffs are Thomas F. Vetra; Ocean Street Canteen, Inc.; John D. Gunn; Bonnie Parkers, Inc.; Venus II, Inc.; H. & M. Enterprises, Inc.; B.P. Productions, Inc.; Marshfield Sports Center, Inc. The plaintiffs are businesses and businessmen in the town of Marshfield.
[Note 2] The cases were consolidated for trial with the case at bar; they were instituted by the building inspector of the town against the various plaintiff merchants named herein.
[Note 3] General By-Law No. 48, provides as follows: "1. No person shall keep or cause to be kept, operate or suffer to be operated, on premises owned or leased by him, or subject to his control, any mechanical or electronic automatic amusement device, whether coin-operated or not (as defined under, but not limited to, Chapter 140, Section 177A(2) of the Massachusetts General Laws) except private in-home use, coin-operated juke boxes, pool, billiard, bowling and athletic training devices. 2. Any person found violating the provisions of this bylaw will be punished by a fine of $200 for each offense."
[Note 4] The town's stipulation not to enforce both by-laws was superseded by the single justice's subsequent allowance of the merchants' request for stays and injunctive relief pending appeal. Thus, the merchants have been able to continue operation of their amusement devices during the pendency of these proceedings.
[Note 5] The five different video games were: "Ms. Pac-Man," "Tron," "Donkey Kong," "Zaxxon," and "Kangaroo."
[Note 6] The merchants rely on several cases from other jurisdictions where courts invalidated certain bans on the playing of pinball machines on the ground that the bans violated the equal protection clause. Cossack v. Los Angeles, 11 Cal.3d 726, 734-735 (1974). State v. Bloss, 62 Hawaii 147 (1980). People v. Palazzolo, 62 Mich. App. 140, 146-147 (1975). We point out, however, that in Cossack and Bloss, the courts considered prohibitions by municipalities of some coin-operated amusement games and not others and, therefore, the reasoning of those courts is inapposite. Furthermore, we decline to follow the reasoning of the court in Palazzolo.

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