Court Opinion

ID: 9477308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:19:49.533762+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:48.447474
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The opinions of my brothers manifest that they have given much careful thought to the disposition of this case and it is with great reluctance that I must decline to join them. However, appellate courts, no matter how hard they try to fashion a comprehensive and integrated workproduct, are *1306bound by the record that has been made in the trial court. Here, the truncated methodology employed by the district court has left us with an inadequate basis for resolution of the issues before us. Accordingly, I would remand this case to the district court for further development of the record.
The grant or denial of a preliminary injunction is, of course, a matter committed to the sound discretion of the trial judge. That decision ought to be disturbed only when there has been an abuse of discretion. See Lawson Prods. v. Avnet, Inc., 782 F.2d 1429, 1436-39 (7th Cir.1986). However, the use of such a deferential standard of review by the appellate court presumes that the district court has employed the appropriate judicial methodology and that the decision to grant or deny the preliminary injunction is the product of a considered evaluation of the criteria contained in that methodology.
The appropriate judicial methodology for considering a request for a preliminary injunction has been set forth in numerous opinions of this court. See, e.g., Brunswick Corp. v. Jones, 784 F.2d 271, 273-74 (7th Cir.1986); Lawson Prods., 782 F.2d at 1432; American Hosp. Supply Corp. v. Hospital Prods., 780 F.2d 589, 593 (7th Cir.1985); Roland Mach. Co. v. Dresser Indus., 749 F.2d 380, 382-83 (7th Cir.1984). The majority opinion has summarized those steps quite succinctly:
Curtis, in establishing her entitlement to a preliminary injunction, bears the burden of demonstrating:
“(1) that she has no adequate remedy at law;
(2) that she will suffer irreparable harm if the preliminary injunction is not issued;
(3) that the irreparable harm she will suffer if the preliminary injunction is not granted is greater than the irreparable harm the defendant will suffer if the injunction is granted;
(4) that she has a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on the merits; and
(5) that the injunction will not harm the public interest.”
Brunswick Corporation v. Jones, 784 F.2d 271, 273-74 (7th Cir.1986).
In this case, the district court addressed only one of the five factors. It denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction because, in the district court's view, they had failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits. Moreover, the district court reached this conclusion without holding, despite the request of the parties, an evidentiary hearing. As reflected in its one-page minute order — only one paragraph of which is devoted to Ms. Curtis’ case — the district court was of the view that the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Rowan v. Post Office Dept. 397 U.S. 728, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 25 L.Ed.2d 736 (1970), and the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in People v. C. Betts Realtors, 66 Ill.2d 144, 5 Ill.Dec. 258, 361 N.E.2d 581 (1977), were “authoritative” and “necessitate denial of the motion for preliminary injunction.” I respectfully suggest that such a truncated treatment of Ms. Curtis’ case was inappropriate.
An evaluation of the merits of Ms. Curtis’ case must begin with the basic reality that it involves rights of freedom of expression protected by the first amendment— commercial speech, but speech nonetheless. As the majority opinion correctly points out, commercial speech may be regulated in a manner quite different from other forms of speech. As my brothers also point out, in Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n, 447 U.S. 557, 100 S.Ct. 2343, 65 L.Ed.2d 341 (1980), the Supreme Court set forth a four-step analysis for assessing the validity of a restriction on commercial speech:
In commercial speech cases, then, a four-part analysis has developed. At the outset, we must determine whether the expression is protected by. the First Amendment. For commercial speech to come within that provision, it at least must concern lawful activity and not be misleading. Next, we ask whether the asserted governmental interest is substantial. If both inquiries yield positive answers, we must determine whether the regulation directly advances the governmental interest asserted, and whether it *1307is not more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest.
Id. at 566, 100 S.Ct. at 2351.
There is no real dispute with respect to the first prong of this test. Information about the state of the local real estate market concerns lawful activity. The second prong is also not troublesome. There is a substantial governmental interest in preventing discrimination in housing. There is also a substantial governmental interest in protecting a person’s legitimate expectation of privacy in the home. The next two prongs of the Central Hudson test are somewhat more difficult and, in my view, deserve a more comprehensive analysis than that given them by the district court or the majority. On this record, it is not established that the statute directly advances either of these governmental interests. As the majority notes, the record contains no evidence that the problem of blockbusting exists in Illinois or in Beverly today. Nor does the record contain any evidence as to how a curb on the truthful, non-misleading communication by a member of the real estate profession will advance directly the government’s attempt to end such racially discriminatory practices. Cf. Linmark Assocs. v. Willingboro, 431 U.S. 85, 95, 97 S.Ct. 1614, 1619, 52 L.Ed.2d 155 (1977) (noting that the record failed to establish that “this ordinance is needed to assure that Willingboro remains an integrated community” (footnote omitted)).
The majority correctly notes that the government may assert in defense of the statute an interest other than that which prompted the original enactment of the statute. See Bolger v. Youngs Drug Prods., 463 U.S. 60, 71, 103 S.Ct. 2875, 2883, 77 L.Ed.2d 469 (1983); Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass’n, 436 U.S. 447, 460, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 1921, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978); Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 190-91, 93 S.Ct. 739, 746-47, 35 L.Ed.2d 201 (1973). The state certainly does have a strong interest in ensuring the privacy of the home. Yet, again, there is no record to support the proposition that this statute directly protects that interest. We do not know, on this record, the extent of real estate solicitation activity. Moreover, while the under-inclusiveness of the statute certainly does not doom it under this prong, see Posadas de Puerto Rico Assocs. v. Tourism Co., 478 U.S. 328, 106 S.Ct. 2968, 2977-78, 92 L.Ed.2d 266 (1986), we cannot ignore, at this very early stage in the development of the record, that, if Illinois meant to protect the privacy of the home from commercial intrusion, it apparently chose a rather feeble approach. There is nothing in the record to support the conclusion that real estate solicitation is any more a threat to the privacy of the home than other forms of commercial intrusions. See id. at 2978 and n. 8.
The last prong of the Central Hudson test presents a particularly troubling problem on this record. That prong requires that the restriction on commercial speech be “not more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest.” 447 U.S. at 566, 100 S.Ct. at 2351. Certainly, the language of the statute (and no narrowing construction has been suggested, see Posadas, 106 S.Ct. at 2975-76) is very broad. It prevents— apparently — all real estate solicitation at any place (not just the home) at any time by anyone. See generally People v. Beaulieu Realtors, 144 Ill.App.3d 580, 98 Ill.Dec. 382, 386, 494 N.E.2d 504, 508 (1986).
It may be that further development of the record would establish a sufficiently tight “fit” between the legislature’s ends and the means chosen to accomplish those ends. However, the record before us hardly allows us to reach that conclusion. At this stage in the litigation, therefore, we must conclude that “ ‘the plaintiff's chances are better than negligible....’” Brunswick, 784 F.2d at 275 (quoting Omega Satellite Prods. v. City of Indianapolis, 694 F.2d 119, 123 (7th Cir.1982)).
It is also suggested that any infirmity with respect to the “fit” created by the Illinois statute is neutralized by the fact that, as in the case of the statute at issue in Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 728, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 25 L.Ed.2d 736 (1970), this statute permits the exclusion of the material only when the intended recipient *1308declares a desire not to receive the material. Rowan does provide some support for the constitutionality of this Illinois statute. The case “shows that a state may permit people to insulate themselves from categories of speech ... but the government must leave the decision about what items are forbidden in the hands of the potentially offended recipients.” American Booksellers Ass’n. v. Hudnut, 771 F.2d 323, 333 (7th Cir.1985). However, as Judge Esch-bach has cogently noted, the Illinois statute is not on “all fours” with the statute at issue in Rowan, 39 U.S.C. § 3008. In Rowan, the Supreme Court specifically noted that the recipient could designate any material as offensive. With respect to that designation — no matter how broad it might be — the recipient would receive the protection of the statute. The absolute right of the recipient under Rowan to refuse any mail was again stressed in Bolger:
Title 39 U.S.C. § 3008, a prohibition of “pandering advertisements,” permits any householder to insulate himself from advertisements that offer for sale “matter which the addressee in his sole discretion believes to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative.” § 3008(a). The addressee’s rights are absolute and “unlimited; he may prohibit the mailing of a dry goods catalog because he objects to the contents — or indeed the text of the language touting the merchandise.” Rowan, 397 U.S., at 737, 90 S.Ct. at 1491.
463 U.S. at 72 n. 25, 103 S.Ct. at 2883 n. 25. On the other hand, here, the statute places significant restrictions on the recipient’s ability to preclude material. Only solicitations with respect to residential realty are covered. Moreover, while under Rowan the recipient could bar mail communications at his address, under the Illinois statute the recipient may apparently bar any message directed to him anywhere. Reliance on Rowan is therefore not a sufficient basis to justify the district court’s failure to address, in preliminary fashion, all of the criteria governing a motion for a preliminary injunction.
In sum, the merits of the plaintiff’s constitutional argument must, at this very preliminary state of the litigation, be characterized as “better than negligible.” Brunswick, 784 F.2d at 275. It was not, therefore, appropriate for the district court to deny the motion for a preliminary injunction without addressing each of the criteria set forth in Brunswick. We must, despite the level of present caseloads, resist the temptation to short-cut well-established analytical patterns in complex cases. This judicial discipline is especially important in the constitutional case where the ultimate values of our society are affected incrementally by every stroke of our pen. Accordingly, I would reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case for further development of the record.