Opinion ID: 499806
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Escort services provide their clientele with companions for a fee. The county has tried several times to control their operation. It contends that most if not all escort services are little more than modified brothels. In a previous attempt, the county prohibited working as a paid social companion or escort or operating an escort bureau as a business. The Supreme Court of Nevada held that the definitions of social companion and escort were unconstitutionally vague. Eaves v. Board of Clark County Comm'rs, 96 Nev. 921, 620 P.2d 1248 (1980). The definitions of these terms did not provide fair notice of the activities prohibited by the statute: social secretaries, babysitters, and companions for the aged and infirm could only guess whether they were guilty of impermissible conduct. Id. at 924, 620 P.2d at 1250. 3 The county then enacted the regulation at issue here and has since amended it twice. On appeal, we review the regulation in its present form. Bradley v. School Bd., 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2016, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974); Thorpe v. Housing Auth., 393 U.S. 268, 281-82, 89 S.Ct. 518, 526, 21 L.Ed.2d 474 (1969). Subsections 40 and 50 of Chapter 8.32 in Title 8 of the Clark County Code (CCC) make it unlawful to operate an escort service or work as an escort without a license from the county. The regulation defines escort and escort bureau and distinguishes between service oriented and sexually oriented escorts and escort bureaus. CCC Sec. 8.32.060(A)-(B). 1 Sexually oriented escort bureaus may not receive licenses and escort bureaus that operate in a sexually oriented manner may have their licenses revoked. CCC Secs. 8.32.080(J), 8.32.140(d). Advertising that suggests escorts will provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification is prohibited, CCC Sec. 8.32.120; those terms are defined elsewhere in the regulation. CCC Sec. 8.32.060(Q)-(R). 2 Applicants must meet detailed criteria and comply with strict reporting requirements to qualify for a license. CCC Sec. 38.32.080(B)-(F), (I)-(J). The plaintiffs were granted licenses under the first version of the challenged regulation. 4 In a previous action involving different plaintiffs, the Supreme Court of Nevada found that the regulation was not unconstitutionally overbroad or vague and refused to grant a preliminary injunction against its enforcement. Republic Entertainment, Inc. v. Clark County Liquor & Gambling Licensing Bd., 99 Nev. 811, 672 P.2d 634 (1983). The district court reached the same conclusion in this case and denied IDK's request for a preliminary injunction, IDK Inc. v. County of Clark, 599 F.Supp. 1402 (D.Nev.1984), and later granted the county's motion for summary judgment denying a permanent injunction.