Ribakoff v. City of Long Beach

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The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's judgment against plaintiff in an action alleging claims under state law and the United States Constitution. The Long Beach Transit Company Board of Directors allows a public speaker to speak for 3 minutes on an agenda item during meetings. Plaintiff, a frequent attendee at meetings of the Board, was not permitted to speak a second time during the same agenda item and was eventually asked to leave by a police officer.The court held that defendants' argument that the trial court determined that plaintiff's Bane Act claims were barred in their entirety because the principal purpose was a monetary recovery ignored both plaintiff's concession in the trial court and the trial court's ruling on defendants' Code of Civil Procedure section 631.8 motion.The court held that the trial court correctly concluded that there was no violation of the Bane Act where nothing the officer said to plaintiff met the test of the statute; the three minutes per public speaker rule clearly met constitutional concerns, and there was no evidence it was applied based on the content of plaintiff's stated or intended remarks; plaintiff's remaining First Amendment claims were rejected; and plaintiff's contention that the second iteration of the Board's speech rules was void was also rejected. View "Ribakoff v. City of Long Beach" on Justia Law