Court Opinion

ID: 9733841
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:18:40.507342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:35.576940
License: Public Domain

Levin, J.
I concur in the result largely because, in the words of the opinion of the Court, "the practical difficulties of obtaining signatures without constitutionally mandated access to the malls has not been shown.”
Williams, C.J.
I. Introduction
The Michigan Constitution of 1963, art 2, § 9, reads in pertinent part:
*236The people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative .... To invoke the initiative . . ., petitions signed by a number of registered electors, not less than eight percent ... of the total vote cast for all candidates for governor at the last preceding general election at which a governor was elected shall be required.
This opinion considers the limited issue whether initiative activity authorized by art 2, §9, of the Michigan Constitution, exercised subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions in the common areas of large, privately owned shopping malls, is a violation of the mall owners’ rights of due process, free speech, and association guaranteed by the United States and Michigan Constitutions.
In view of the importance of the people’s reservation of the power of initiative and the minimal nature of the intrusion on the rights of the mall owners, we hold that allowing citizens to engage in initiative activity in large, privately owned shopping malls subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, does not unreasonably restrict the mall owners’ rights. The United States Supreme Court has held that such a construction of state law is permissible, and does not infringe on the mall owners’ federal constitutional rights. PruneYard Shopping Center v Robins, 447 US 74; 100 S Ct 2035; 64 L Ed 2d 741 (1980).
In reaching this conclusion, we emphasize that we are concerned solely with the reservation of the power of initiative under art 2, § 9, and not with the rights asserted by the defendants under other constitutional provisions, notably the freedom of speech and petition guaranteed by Const 1963, art 1, §§ 3 and 5. We therefore express no opinion regarding the necessity for a court to find *237"state action” as a prerequisite to granting relief in cases involving alleged interference with the exercise of rights guaranteed under the Declaration of Rights of the Michigan Constitution.1
II. Facts
A. Woodland
Woodland is the owner and operator of Woodland Mall, located in Kentwood, a suburb of Grand Rapids in Paris Township, Michigan. The mall is enclosed and consists of three major department stores, approximately eighty smaller stores, shops, and restaurants surrounded by a parking area.. The mall contains common areas designed to facilitate travel within the mall as well as to promote rest, relaxation, and socialization. The common areas consist of numerous seating facilities, works of art, and fountains.
Woodland Mall maintains a strict policy against permitting activity in the shopping center that is *238not directly related to the enhancement of commercial retail sales. This policy forbids solicitation, petition, the securing of signatures, speechmaking, the distribution of handbills, and like activity.
The Michigan Citizens Lobby is a nonprofit organization that promotes various consumer interests. On this particular occasion, the Citizens Lobby was attempting to initiate legislation that would forbid automatic utility rate increases and require prior Public Service Commission approval of rate adjustments.
On April 1, 1982, the director of the Citizens Lobby notified Woodland that the Citizens Lobby was interested in collecting signatures at the mall on April 3, 1982. The mall informed him of its policy against such activity, but on April 3 the director and other members of the Citizens Lobby appeared at the mall. They were met at the entrance by a security guard who told them that solicitation was not permitted on mall premises. Nevertheless, the Citizens Lobby entered the mall and set up three card tables and signs in the central courtyard. The mall manager then informed them that they were on private property and asked them to leave. They refused, and approximately five Citizens Lobby members remained and gathered signatures from about noon until 6:00 p.m. At that time the Citizens Lobby announced its intention to return on April 9 and 10 for the same purpose.
On April 6, 1982, Woodland filed a verified complaint in the Kent Circuit Court, seeking a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and a permanent injunction, to prevent the Michigan Citizens Lobby from soliciting shoppers, gathering signatures, or otherwise entering and remaining on the Woodland Mall premises in vio*239lation of mall policy. The trial judge issued an ex parte restraining order on that day. Following a hearing, the court issued a preliminary injunction on April 15, 1982, which was made permanent on April 27, 1982. In relevant part, the order and final judgment read:
The defendant, Michigan Citizans [sic] Lobby, [is] permanently enjoined from at any time soliciting shoppers, gathering signatures, distributing handbills or other literature, securing signatures on petitions, making speeches, and engaging in any other expressive activity on any of the property owned by the plaintiff, Woodland, a Michigan co-partnership, including the common areas, courtyards, and corridors of Woodland Mall, a retail shopping center located in the Township of Paris, County of Kent, and State of Michigan.
The Michigan Citizens Lobby appealed, and, in a two-to-one decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s order. 128 Mich App 649; 341 NW2d 174 (1983).
B. Equitable Life
Equitable Life is the owner of the Genesee Valley Center, located in Flint Township, Michigan. The center is an enclosed mall consisting of three major department stores and approximately ninety-two smaller stores, shops, and restaurants. Like Woodland Mall, the Genesee Valley Center has common areas which are designed to facilitate travel within the complex as well as to promote rest, relaxation, and socialization. The area is aesthetically pleasing so as to encourage such activity. Equitable Life maintains a strict policy permitting only limited noncommercial activity on its premises. Probably the most severe limitation is that Equitable Life permits such activity for no *240more than one consecutive two-hour period per day on two consecutive days, twice a year.2
On February 17, 1982, the Michigan Citizens Lobby contacted the Genesee Valley Center and informed the personnel there that it desired to solicit signatures in the center for a petition initiating the legislation described above. The Michigan Citizens Lobby was told that the center permitted such activity, but only in accordance with its written policy.
On February 18, 1982, the Lobby informed the center that it believed such restrictions violated Michigan law and that the organization would not comply with them. Later the center learned that the organization intended to circulate petitions in the mall on February 20, 1982, and that local authorities would not intercede. The center contacted the Citizens Lobby and agreed to permit them to gather signatures on February 20, 1982, on a one-time-only basis, subject to less severe restrictions than those ordinarily imposed under the center’s policy.
On February 20, 1982, the Citizens Lobby conducted its initiative activity on the center premises for a six-hour period without incident and gath*241ered approximately 1,300 signatures. When it became clear that the Citizens Lobby intended to pursue this activity on future dates at the center, the center sought relief in the courts.
On February 24, 1982, Equitable Life Assurance Society and others filed a complaint, seeking a declaratory judgment and preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent the Michigan Citizens Lobby and others from entering onto Equitable Life’s properties for the purpose of engaging in noncommercial activity of any nature or, in the alternative, to declare that Equitable Life’s policy permitting limited noncommercial activity constituted reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions with which the Michigan Citizens Lobby must comply.3 On the same date, Equitable Life also filed a motion for an ex parte temporary restraining order enjoining any noncommercial activities by the Michigan Citizens Lobby on Equi*242table Life’s properties.4 The trial judge did not grant the motion, but instead scheduled a hearing for February 26, 1982, on the propriety of issuing a temporary restraining order. Following the hearing, the trial judge issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the Citizens Lobby.
On March 3, 1982, the Michigan Citizens Lobby answered Equitable Life’s complaint and filed a counterclaim for declaratory relief and a preliminary and permanent injunction barring Equitable Life from interfering with its rights of petition, assembly, expression, press, and the initiation of legislation in the general public areas, including interior mall areas, of all shopping centers owned or managed by Equitable Life in Michigan, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Both sides moved for summary judgment. The Michigan Citizens Lobby also requested permanent injunctive relief. After an evidentiary hearing on April 8, 1982, the trial judge rendered an opinion on March 14, 1983, concluding that
under the Michigan Constitution, a right of access in the mall area of a large private shopping center can exist for the purpose of soliciting signatures on an initiative proposal where the activity comports with the public nature of the property and does not unreasonably impair the value or use of the property as a shopping center.
The trial judge stated that this determination *243must be made on a case-by-case basis and that an evidentiary hearing would be conducted to determine the public nature of Equitable Life’s shopping malls and the detrimental effect that the Citizens Lobby’s activities would have on Equitable Life’s interests. On May 16, 1983, the trial judge issued an order in accordance with his opinion.
The Court of Appeals granted Equitable Life’s application for leave to appeal. On February 29, 1984, this Court granted Equitable Life’s application for leave to appeal prior to decision by the Court of Appeals, and also granted leave to appeal in the Woodland case. 418 Mich 955.
III. The Importance of the Initiative Power
The importance of the power of initiative in Michigan’s constitutional scheme cannot be overemphasized. In a democracy, governmental power ultimately rests with the people, and art 2, § 9, reflects this principle. As we stated in Kuhn v Dep’t of Treasury, 384 Mich 378, 385; 183 NW2d 796 (1971):
[U]nder a system of government based on grants of power from the people, constitutional provisions by which the people reserve to themselves a direct legislative voice ought to be liberally construed.10
The power of initiative removes from the Legislature the exclusive right to make laws and leaves it a coordinate legislative body with the people. *244Advisory Opinion on Constitutionality of 1982 PA 47, 418 Mich 49, 66; 340 NW2d 817 (1983). The initiative was in large part a response to the failure of political parties to enact promised legislation. Hamilton v Secretary of State, 227 Mich 111, 130; 198 NW 843 (1924). As a consequence, "the electorate . . . took matters into its own hands and constructed a constitutional procedure by which it could . . . bring about desired legislation without the aid of the legislature.”
The same issue we face today was decided by the Washington Supreme Court in Alderwood Associates v Washington Environmental Council, 96 Wash 2d 230; 635 P2d 108 (1981). In the concurring opinion of Justice Dolliver, it was stated that the role created for the people by the initiative power is "closely akin to that of a fourth branch of government.” Id., 252.
It should be noted that the initiative process is not a "right” against government in the sense of [the guarantee of freedom of speech]. Rather, amendment 7 [the reservation of the power of initiative] is a declaration by the people in their constitution that they are part of the legislative process. Amendment 7 declares not that the people have a right against government but that the people are part of the apparatus of government— the legislative branch. As a part of government the initiative process may be exercised, as may other aspects of government, only in such a way as not to restrict the use of private property so as to amount to a taking. [Id., 251.]
Access to people is the life blood of the initiative power. The requisite number of signatures cannot be obtained unless the petition circulators have access to other citizens in numbers sufficiently large to secure the constitutional requirement of eight percent of the total vote last cast for Gover*245nor. Further, unlike cases involving dissemination of political messages in general, with regard to the exercise of the initiative power, there must be personal contact with individual voters. There is no other legal method of obtaining the constitutionally required number of signatures. See Batch-elder v Allied Stores Int’l, supra, 92. In fact, the circulator of the petition is required by statute to certify "that each signature on the petition was signed in his presence . . . .” MCL 168.544c; MSA 6.1544(3). See MCL 168.482; MSA 6.1482.
It is common knowledge that not all initiative drives are successful. To acquire signatures equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor is, in fact, quite a formidable task. By comparison, we note that new political parties can place their candidates on the primary ballot by merely obtaining signatures equal to one percent of those who voted for the successful candidate for Secretary of State in the preceding election. MCL 168.685; MSA 6.1685. But see MCL 168.560b(4); MSA 6.1560(2)(4). Generally, the number of signatures required for ballot access in other situations is also relatively small.5
The major regional malls here provide a unique opportunity for signature gatherers to collect the needed signatures. As counsel for Equitable Life stated in the trial court, "this group of defendants thinks that the shopping center is a good place to collect signatures which it is . . . (Emphasis *246added.) Approximately 47,000 people visit the Genesee Valley Center every Saturday, and Equitable Life’s expert witness testified that eighty-six percent of the residents of the greater Flint area use the Genesee Valley Center frequently. Unlike other locations where large numbers of people gather, visitors to the large malls are encouraged to come for a variety of activities: to shop, have a meal, get a haircut, see a movie, meet friends, and relax in the seating provided in common areas.
Claims of persons exercising the power of initiative to access to such large numbers of people in this setting should not be lightly disregarded.
IV. The Rights of the Mall Owners
The owners of the shopping malls involved in these cases contend that compelling them to permit initiative activity in the malls would be an unconstitutional infringement of their rights under both the Michigan and the federal constitutions.
The mall owners contend that their rights of free speech and association, guaranteed by the First Amendment and by Const 1963, art 1, §§ 3 and 5, protect them against being compelled by the state to be a forum for the beliefs of others. Wooley v Maynard, 430 US 705; 97 S Ct 1428; 51 L Ed 2d 752 (1977). We believe that the fact that the malls are open to the public make it unlikely that visitors will associate the petitioners’ activity with the views of the mall owners, and the owners are free to post signs disassociating themselves with the initiative being promoted. PruneYard Shopping Center v Robins, supra, 87.
The owners point to their right against being deprived of property without just compensation and due process of law. These rights are protected *247against infringement by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well as art 1, § 17, and art 10, § 2, of the Michigan Constitution. The importance of these property rights cannot be questioned. See Roman Catholic Archbishop of Detroit v Village of Orchard Lake, 333 Mich 389, 392; 53 NW2d 308 (1952).
One essential element of protected property rights is the right to exclude others, Kaiser Aetna v United States, 444 US 164, 179-180; 100 S Ct 383; 62 L Ed 2d 332 (1979), and it is on this aspect of their property rights that the mall owners base their claim.
Historically, property rights have not been without limits. They have, for example, been held subject to the state’s police power. Patchak v Lansing Twp, 361 Mich 489, 498; 105 NW2d 406 (1960). Further, the voluntary opening of the mall property to use by the general public diminishes, although it does not extinguish, the owner’s right to exclude.
In PruneYard, the United States Supreme Court focused on the obvious and most significant property right of the mall owners as follows:
Here the California Supreme Court decided that Art 1, §§2 and 3, of the California Constitution gave appellees the right to solicit signatures on appellants’ property in exercising their state rights of free expression and petition. In so doing, the California Supreme Court rejected appellants’ claim that recognition of such a right violated appellants’ "right to exclude others,” which is a fundamental component of their federally protected property rights. [Emphasis added. Prune-Yard, supra, pp 79-80.]
In sum, we find that the intrusion on the rights of the shopping center owners by the activities of *248persons seeking signatures on initiative petitions is minimal. In the California Supreme Court’s opinion in the PruneYard case, Robins v Prune-Yard Shopping Center, 23 Cal 3d 899, 911; 153 Cal Rptr 854; 592 P2d 341 (1979), the Court concluded:
"A handful of additional orderly persons soliciting signatures and distributing handbills in connection therewith, under reasonable regulations adopted by defendants to assure that these activities do not interfere with normal business operations . . . would not markedly dilute defendant’s property rights.” [Citations omitted.]
In view of our holding that the owners may adopt reasonable restrictions as to time, place, and manner, the owners are assured that orderly initiative activity will have little or no negative effect on the use of the property for the commercial purpose to which it is dedicated.6 As Justice Dolliver in his concurring opinion in Alderwood, supra, p 253, stated:
Given the importance of the initiative procedure, I do not feel that plaintiffs property rights were unreasonably restricted. The property remains in the possession of its owners. The State does not appropriate it or demand exclusive use of it. The people merely desire access to gather signatures on an initiative petition, an integral part of the state’s political process. Implicit in the initia*249tive process is the need to gather signatures in a manner which does not violate or unreasonably restrict the rights of private property owners.
V. Conclusion
We hold that Const 1963, art 2, § 9, authorizes initiative activity in the common areas of large, privately owned shopping malls, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, and that the minimal intrusion on the rights of the mall owners is justified in view of the importance of the power of initiative reserved by the people.
In Woodland, the mall had a strict policy of complete exclusion of the activity pursued by the Michigan Citizens Lobby. This policy is clearly violative of Const 1963, art 2, § 9. Therefore, we would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, vacate the permanent injunction entered by the trial court, and remand the case to the trial court for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
In Equitable Life Assurance, the mall permitted activities such as those sought to be engaged in here, but only on a very limited and restricted basis. The trial court issued an opinion, order, and partial declaratory judgment in favor of the Michigan Citizens Lobby. The trial judge, however, made no finding as to whether Equitable Life’s policy constituted reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Therefore, we would affirm the ruling of the trial court insofar as it is consistent with this opinion, but remand for a determination whether Equitable Life’s policy regarding initiative activity in the mall constitutes reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.
Cavanagh, J., concurred with Williams, C.J.

 The reservation of the power of initiative is not contained in Michigan’s Declaration of Rights, art 1, but in art 2, entitled Elections. As such, it finds no counterpart in the federal Bill of Rights or, for that matter, anywhere in the United States Constitution. Thus, the concept of "state action” as a prerequisite to judicial protection developed in connection with the federal Bill of Rights is not directly applicable here. This conclusion is further supported by the language of art 2, § 9, which states, "The people reserve to themselves the power . . . .” We find this language compelling. The language reserves an affirmative power in the people and does not purport to be a restraint on governmental action. In stark contrast, those provisions of the United States Constitution which have been construed to require state action are couched in prohibitive terms. In fact, the language of many of the provisions, particularly relevant here, explicitly restrains governmental action. For instance, the First Amendment begins, "Congress shall make no law . . and the Fourteenth Amendment provides, "No State shall . . . [and]; nor shall any State deprive . . . .” This language carries with it an express limitation on governmental action. There is nothing, express or implied, in the language of art 2, § 9, that lends itself to an interpretation that the provision was designed to prohibit governmental action. See Batchelder v Allied Stores Int’l, 388 Mass 83, 88; 445 NE2d 590 (1983).

 The trial judge summed up the major limitations as follows:
"Plaintiff would only permit defendant to solicit in accordance with plaintiff’s established policy regulating noncommercial and political activities. That policy, which plaintiffs assert is uniformly enforced, includes the following: each organization must register five working days in advance of the day which they wish to solicit petition signatures including a detailed description of the proposed activity; the noncommercial activity must be conducted from a booth in a prescribed area of the mall and all activities must be carried on within two feet within any direction of the booth; no more than two representatives may be present at any given time; and the organization is limited to conducting its activities two hours per day on consecutive days, twice per year. A $100.00 security deposit to cover possible cleanup must be posted. (Emphasis added.)”
The trial judge did not find whether these limitations constituted reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.

 Factually, the confrontation here centers on Equitable Life’s Gene-see Valley Center. Apparently, equitable Life also owns four other major shopping facilities in Michigan, Eastland Center in Harper Woods, Westland Shopping Center in Westland, Northland Center in Southfield, and Southfield Shopping Center in Taylor. Equitable Life sought relief from the Michigan Citizens Lobby’s activities with respect to its "properties” and the Michigan Citizens Lobby sought affirmative relief in its counterclaim with respect to all five shopping centers, specifically naming each.
From the record, it appears that there was ongoing litigation involving at least one of these other Equitable Life properties, between the same parties, in Wayne County. Both parties expressed a desire for the Genesee circuit judge to assume sole and total jurisdiction with respect to all five of Equitable Life’s properties. It seems that the Wayne circuit judge and the trial judge here were amenable to such an arrangement. The record does not reflect any further action in this regard, except that the Genesee circuit judge’s order and opinion address all five of Equitable Life’s properties. The parties seemed to have conceded that while reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions may vary from one shopping center to the other, if the Michigan Citizens Lobby has the right to enter onto the Genesee Valley Center for initiative activity, it also has the right to enter onto Equitable Life’s other centers for the same purpose. In this light, since we do not decide the reasonable time, place, and manner limitation, we need only focus our discussion on the Genesee Valley Center.

 On February 24, 1982, Equitable Life also filed an action against the Flint Township Police Department, the Genesee County Sheriffs Department, and the Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney, seeking a writ of mandamus compelling the enforcement of Michigan’s trespass statute, MCL 750.552; MSA 28.820(1), against any persons coming onto Equitable Life’s Genesee Valley Center property for the purpose of petitioning or engaging in other noncommercial activity in violation of the center’s policy. Apparently, the trial judge consolidated this action with Equitable Life’s action against the Michigan Citizens Lobby.

 "In the last analysis, the people are the fountainhead of law in a democracy, and therefore, it is natural that the legislative article should contain a reservation by the people of the right to make laws directly, through use of the statutory initiative and referendum. . . .” Lederle, "The Legislative Article,” in Pealy (ed), The Voter and the Michigan Constitution in 1958 (1958), p 47.

 See MCL 168.1 et seq.; MSA 6.1001 et seq. For example, candidates seeking election to the offices of Governor or United States Senator need only obtain signatures equal to one percent of the votes cast by the candidate’s party for Secretary of State in the last November election, as long as the petitions are signed by at least one hundred registered electors in at least twenty counties. MCL 168.53, 168.93; MSA 6.1053, 6.1093. But see Const 1963, art 12, §2. Even something as important as amending the Michigan Constitution only requires two percent more signatures than an initiative proposal, ten percent of the total vote cast for Governor in the last election.

 The mall owners point to a statistical survey they had commissioned, purporting to show that shoppers would be less likely to patronize the malls if individuals are allowed to conduct initiative activity in the common areas. In our opinion, this self-serving survey fails to establish a significant impairment of the commercial value of the malls. The cited statistics are merely speculative and do not show any actual loss of business. They demonstrate, in fact, that most shoppers favor, or are indifferent to, initiative activities at large shopping centers. In any event, consumer attitudes might be more favorable if shoppers were aware that the activity was protected by the Michigan Constitution in these and competitive malls.