Opinion ID: 166484
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to State a Free Speech Claim

Text: -9- “It is, of course, a commonplace that the constitutional guarantee of free speech is a guarantee only against abridgment by government, federal or state.” Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. 507, 513 (1976). Thus, to prove a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech, Plaintiffs must either demonstrate that the Church, as the sole owner of the Plaza, is a state actor, or that the Plaza is nevertheless a public forum in spite of its sale to a private owner. The Court first found that a private property owner can be a state actor for First Amendment purposes in Marsh v. Alabama, 326 U.S. 501 (1946). In that case, the Court concluded that the property interests of Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, the private owner of a company town that did “not function differently from any other town,” id. at 508, did not allow the company to regulate speech more strictly than a municipality. Id. at 508-09. Applying this theory, the Court found that a private entity performs a public function when it operates a park that is public in nature and attempts to enforce racial restrictions. Evans v. Newton, 382 U.S. 296, 302 (1966) (“[T]he public character of this park requires that it be treated as a public institution subject to the command of the Fourteenth Amendment, regardless of who now has title under state law.”). Evans has since been limited to the unique facts involved. Flagg Bros. Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. 149, 159 n.8 (1978) (noting that Evans involved “extraordinary circumstances” and distinguishing that case because there - 10 - was “actual involvement of the city in the daily maintenance and care of the park”). At one point, the Court expanded the public function doctrine to encompass the activities of a private shopping center. Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza, Inc., 391 U.S. 308 (1968). However, the Court later overruled this expansion. Hudgens, 424 U.S. at 507 (“[W]e make clear now, if it was not clear before, that the rationale of Logan Valley did not survive the Court’s decision in [Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551 (1972)].”). Accordingly, the public function doctrine has essentially been limited to the facts of Marsh and Evans, which differ greatly from the facts of the instant case. While Marsh involved a privately owned town with all the normal attributes of a typical municipality, such as stores, churches, utilities, sidewalks, and streets, the Plaza is an open space clearly delineated from the surrounding streets and sidewalks. Similarly, Evans involved a city’s attempt to enforce racially restrictive covenants governing a privately owned park that the city maintained. The Plaza at issue here is maintained solely by the LDS Church; it is not operated or maintained by the City. Moreover, following Marsh and Evans, Plaintiffs can point to no case in which a court has found that a private entity’s control is so pervasive that it is performing a public function. Marsh and Evans are factually inapposite; the speech restrictions by the LDS Church do not constitute state - 11 - action under the public function doctrine. Alternatively, Plaintiffs argue that even if the Church is not a state actor, the Plaza, by its nature, is still a public forum. Certainly, property does not become a public forum simply because a private owner generally opens his property to the public. Hudgens, 424 U.S. at 519-21; Lloyd Corp., 407 U.S. at 569. On appeal, Plaintiffs argue that notwithstanding its private ownership, the Plaza is a public forum. First, Plaintiffs seem to argue that a public forum may never be sold to a private entity, or that if it is sold, it remains a public forum. This argument is foreclosed by our precedent. The fact that the Plaza “used to be a public street does not render it a traditional public forum.” Hawkins v. City & County of Denver, 170 F.3d 1281, 1287-88 (10th Cir. 1999) (determining that a former public street that was converted into an open-air, glass covered pedestrian walkway that led to a performing arts center is not a public forum). Moreover, the government “always retains authority to close a public forum[] by selling the property.” Int’l Soc’y for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee, 505 U.S. 672, 699700 (1992) (Kennedy, J., concurring); see also First Unitarian Church, 308 F.3d at 1132 (stating that City may relinquish easement so property becomes entirely private). Plaintiffs’ argument to the contrary is without merit. Next, Plaintiffs claim that for a street or sidewalk to be changed from a - 12 - presumptively public forum to private property, the physical characteristics must also change. See, e.g., Lee, 505 U.S. at 700 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (explaining that to change a property’s public forum status, the state “must alter the objective physical character or uses of the property”); Venetian Casino Resort L.L.C. v. Local Joint Exec. Bd. of Las Vegas, 257 F.3d 937, 944 (9th Cir. 2001) (finding no alteration because the sidewalk still performed the same role as it did previously). However, Plaintiffs’ reliance on Justice Kennedy’s concurrence in Lee and the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Venetian is not persuasive in this case. The test for a public forum proposed by Justice Kennedy asks if “the objective, physical characteristics of the property at issue and the actual public access and uses that have been permitted by the government indicate that expressive activity would be appropriate and compatible with those uses, [then] the property is a public forum.” Lee, 505 U.S. at 698 (Kennedy, J., concurring). In this case, because of the signs posted at all entrances to the Plaza and its differentiation from the surrounding sidewalks, the objective, physical characteristics demonstrate that the Plaza is privately owned. Further, although the easement required the government to allow expressive activity, the Plaza is no longer owned or controlled by the government. Id. at 698. Plaintiffs urge us to look at the history, function, and purpose of the Plaza and conclude that the Plaza is a public forum in accordance with the principles - 13 - employed in First Unitarian Church. We did not go so far in First Unitarian Church. There, we concluded that the easement, not the surrounding Plaza property, was a public forum and our holding was so limited. First Unitarian Church, 308 F.3d at 1131. Any doubt about the limitation of our holding is belied by our extensive prior discussion concluding that an easement allowing the government rights to the property subjects it to forum analysis. Id. at 1121-24. Absent the easement, we have no reason to doubt that “[p]roviding for a religious park” is now the purpose of the entire property held in private ownership. Id. at 1128 n.10. The City simply does not own the Plaza, having sold it in the first instance for over $8 million. It relinquished its legally significant remaining ownership interest, namely the easement, for consideration valued at $5.375 million. Third, Plaintiffs argue that the City’s retained right of reentry, requiring that the Plaza be maintained as a landscaped space, is sufficient to render the Plaza a public forum. Clearly, “[e]ither government ownership or regulation is sufficient for a First Amendment forum of some kind to exist.” Id. at 1122. However, unlike the case with an easement, our precedent dictates that a similar future interest, the possibility of reverter, is not a present estate. Woodville, Okla. v. United States, 152 F.2d 735, 738 (10th Cir. 1946) (“[A] possibility or right of reverter . . . does not constitute an actual estate . . . All the estate rests in - 14 - the first grantee, notwithstanding the qualifications annexed to it.”) (internal quotations and citations omitted); Mount Olivet Cemetery Ass’n v. Salt Lake City, 164 F.3d 480, 485 (10th Cir. 1998) (possibility of reverter owned by the United States was “minimal and speculative” and insufficient to constitute property owned by the United States for purposes of preempting state authority). Moreover, because such future interests are not entitled to compensation under the Fifth Amendment, Woodville, Okla., 152 F.2d at 738; see also Restatement (First) of Property § 53, the right of reentry is not a constitutionally cognizable property interest. See First Unitarian Church, 308 F.3d at 1122-23. Thus, the City’s right of reentry is insufficient to render the Plaza a public forum. Plaintiffs also argue that the right of reverter is a property interest substantial enough to support their claims, citing Hampton v. City of Jacksonville, 304 F.2d 320 (5th Cir. 1962), United States v. Mississippi, 499 F.2d 425, 430-32 (5th Cir. 1974), and Eaton v. Grubbs, 329 F.2d 710 (4th Cir. 1964). In each of these cases, courts found state action where the government owned a reversionary interest in a segregated, privately operated golf course, school or hospital. We think that those cases are readily distinguishable. In Hampton and Eaton, the governmental entity was inextricably intertwined with the ongoing operations of the private entity, and the property served the same primary function as before. In United States v. Mississippi, the local governmental entity leased an unused - 15 - school facility to a civic association which in turn leased it to a private segregated school. The court determined that the arrangement resulted in the establishment and continuation of a segregated school using state resources, in obvious contravention of a directive to the local governmental entity to desegregate. United States v. Mississippi, 499 F.2d at 432. As noted, the property in this case serves a very different primary function than when under City ownership, and the right of reverter does not require that the Plaza be used only for a particular purpose, grant the public a right of access, give the City the right to control expressive activities on the Plaza, or prohibit the LDS Church from erecting fences or closing the Plaza altogether. The right of reverter merely acts to preserve the property as a landscaped space, maintain the view corridor, and allow for public utility easements. To the extent that these subsidiary functions are encouraged, the City is not inextricably intertwined with the ongoing operations of the LDS Church or the Plaza. Finally, Plaintiffs argue that cases from our sister circuits, which have found sidewalks to be public fora because they so closely resembled ordinary public sidewalks, dictate that we find the Plaza to be a public forum. We disagree. In Venetian, the Ninth Circuit was faced with the issue of “whether a sidewalk constructed on private property to replace a public sidewalk, accommodating pedestrian traffic adjacent to Las Vegas Boulevard, is a public - 16 - forum subject to the protection of the First Amendment.” 257 F.3d at 939. In that case, the court noted that the function of the sidewalk in question was the same as those on either side of the property, the purpose was the same as any other sidewalk, there was a recorded servitude on the property requiring the Venetian to dedicate it to public use, and the sidewalk was indistinguishable from adjoining sidewalks. Id. at 942-45. Our consideration of these factors militates a decision in favor of Defendants. First, the function of the Plaza, at least when the Church chooses to leave it open to the public and pedestrians use it as a shortcut to other downtown destinations, is similar to that of any other sidewalk or designated pedestrian thoroughfare. Thus, although the Plaza might at other times have different functions, if left open to and used by the public, it “still performs the same role as a thoroughfare for pedestrian traffic.” Venetian, 257 F.3d at 944. However, the similarities between Venetian and the instant case begin and end there. The asserted purpose of the Plaza, unlike that of a normal sidewalk or other public forum, is to act as an ecclesiastical park. Next, unlike the sidewalk in Venetian, there is no recorded servitude requiring that the Church allow public access. Rather, the deed conveying the servitude, as referenced in Plaintiffs’ complaint and relied upon by the district court, specifically states that the Church is in no way required to allow public access to the Plaza. Utah Gospel Mission, - 17 - 316 F. Supp. 2d at 1216-17; see also Venetian, 257 F.3d at 948 (“While the mall owners in Lloyd and Hudgens were free to barricade their walkways, or close their malls outright, without giving patrons any legal ground to complain, the Venetian is not.”). Finally, the Plaza absent an easement is not “seamlessly connected to public sidewalks.” Venetian, 257 F.3d at 943; see also United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 180 (1983) (“There is no separation, no fence, and no indication whatever to persons stepping from the street to the curb and sidewalk[] . . . that they have entered some special type of enclave.”). Instead, the Plaza is landscaped, the walking surface is different from that of the City sidewalks, and waterfalls, planters, and stone signs announce to entrants that the Plaza is the property of the LDS Church. Utah Gospel Mission, 316 F. Supp. 2d at 1207-08. Although the function of the Plaza is the same as any public thoroughfare, every other factor considered by the Venetian court requires a result in favor of Defendants. Plaintiffs also argue that United Church of Christ v. Gateway Economic Development Corp., 383 F.3d 449 (6th Cir. 2004), is controlling. In that case, the Sixth Circuit considered whether the common areas and sidewalks surrounding Gateway Park in Cleveland are public fora in spite of the fact that the stadium is privately owned. The court noted that the sidewalk encircling the complex “looks and feels like a typical public sidewalk” and “blends into the urban grid.” Id. at - 18 - 452. Second, the court found that the sidewalk was a “public thoroughfare,” which “contributes to the City’s downtown transportation grid and is open to the public for general pedestrian passage.” Id. On these facts, the court found that the sidewalks surrounding the stadium were public fora. United Church of Christ also weighs in favor of Defendants. First, the Plaza does not look like a typical public sidewalk, since it is composed of a different material and is clearly marked as private property owned by the LDS Church. Second, although the Plaza contributes to the downtown transportation grid by facilitating pedestrian passage, the easement deed and sale agreement specifically stated that the Plaza need not be held open to the general public and the LDS Church could restrict entry. Thus, both of the factors considered by the Sixth Circuit weigh against finding that the Plaza is a public forum. Because Plaintiffs have failed to show either that the Church is a state actor or that the Plaza constitutes a public forum under the First Amendment, the district court properly dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims.