Opinion ID: 1058282
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Vague As Applied

Text: When Fantasy Video opened on August 3, 1998, its inventory consisted of 80% adult or sexually explicit, x-rated videos and 20% family or general videos. After police officers for the City of Knoxville (“City”) began inspecting the store and issuing citations on an almost daily basis, Entertainment Resources changed the inventory and layout of Fantasy Video in an attempt to avoid continued classification as an adult bookstore under the Ordinance. A November 17, 1998, police inventory revealed that Fantasy Video’s stock consisted of 57% general feature videos and 43% sexually explicit adult-oriented videos. The tally from a December 8, 1998, count revealed that Fantasy Video’s stock consisted of 70% general feature videos and 30% sexually explicit adultoriented videos. Thus, Entertainment Resources attempted to alter the balance of its inventory to avoid the reach of the Ordinance. Entertainment Resources also sought guidance from various officials of the City of Knoxville as to what specific additional changes would be necessary for Fantasy Video to avoid the adult bookstore classification so that it could lawfully operate at the Papermill Road location without being subject to the Ordinance’s restrictions. Neither the police who conducted inspections and issued citations to Fantasy Video nor the City’s Law Department or the City Court judge assigned to hear the citations provided the guidance that Entertainment Resources sought.1 In addition to seeking a declaratory judgment finding the Ordinance unconstitutional, Entertainment Resources sought in its counterclaim a declaratory judgment construing “adult bookstore” in a manner that would make it possible to know what additional changes would be necessary for Fantasy Video to avoid the adult bookstore classification and to operate lawfully at the Papermill Road location. The injunction did not provide additional guidance but instead merely enjoined Entertainment Resources “during the pendency of this action from operating an adult bookstore at 6422 Papermill Road, Knoxville, Tennessee.” Thus, upon reviewing the facts and procedural history of this case, I am fully convinced that the Ordinance is unconstitutionally vague as it has been applied to Fantasy Video; therefore, I concur with the result reached by the majority.