Judge Strikes Down L.A. Ordinance in Landmark Adult Retail Case

Judge Strikes Down L.A. Ordinance in Landmark Adult Retail Case

Trial court sides with Alameda Books on 1st Amendment

By: Mark Kernes

Posted: 07/18/2008

LOS ANGELES - It's been just over six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, the ground-breaking case that established an adult retailer's right to challenge alleged adverse secondary effects evidence in court. But the opinion in that case included a remand to the trial court to reconsider its previous summary judgment in light of the high court's ruling, and now, it has.

"What the judge said, as I read it," said First Amendment attorney Clyde DeWitt, for plaintiffs Alameda Books and Beverly Books, "is, remember that this was a motion for summary judgment, except now, the Supreme Court has said that for the ordinance to stand requires evidence; it's not just on the face of the ordinance and the studies underlying the ordinance when they first passed it."...read more