FEDERAL COURT HALTS ENFORCEMENT OF STATE STATUTE BY ST. JOHNS COUNTY SHERIFF, FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL DIRECTOR AGAINST HOMELESS MAN WHILE LAWSUIT CONTINUES
May 7, 2019, JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal district court Monday issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of a statute restricting charitable solicitation while a lawsuit filed on behalf of Peter Vigue, a homeless resident of St. Augustine, is allowed to proceed. Vigue has been repeatedly arrested by state and local law enforcement for standing in the public right of way holding a sign that says, “Please Care God Bless Love” or other similar messages asking for help.
The injunction prohibits the defendants, St. Johns County Sheriff David B. Shoar and Florida Highway Patrol Director Gene Spaulding, from enforcing, against Vigue only, a Florida statute that prohibits individuals from soliciting charitable contributions on public streets and sidewalks without a local government permit but exempts charitable organizations from the permit requirements and other restrictions.
The suit alleging violations of Vigue’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights was filed Feb. 12 by Gainesville, Fla.-based Southern Legal Counsel along with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty with the assistance of pro bono attorneys from the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.
“The Court finds that Vigue has demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits,” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan of the Middle District of Florida wrote in the preliminary injunction, noting that two other U.S. District Courts have found section 316.2045 of the Florida Statutes unconstitutional.
Corrigan held that “Vigue has sufficiently shown that Defendants’ enforcement of the relevant statute in the form of arrest and incarceration has prohibited him from engaging in protected speech activity such that he will suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief.”
Corrigan noted that the “vast majority of the statutory language found facially unconstitutional… remains in the current version of the statute” in spite of an opinion issued in 2007 by then-Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum that the constitutional deficiencies identified by federal courts had not been addressed by subsequent amendments to the statues.
Corrigan declined to issue an injunction to the second challenged statute, section 337.406, because Vigue had never been arrested for violating that statute.
The Court found that “when First Amendment rights are at issue, courts routinely find that the possible injury to plaintiffs outweigh whatever damage the injunction may cause defendants.” The Court reasoned that there is no legitimate interest in continuing to enforce an unconstitutional statute, and any concerns about traffic safety are adequately addressed by other laws.
The suit ultimately seeks a permanent injunction that would bar the St. Johns County Sheriff and Florida Highway Patrol from enforcing – against anyone – two Florida statutes that unconstitutionally restrict homeless people from asking for help or charity on public streets and sidewalks.
Southern Legal Counsel is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that works proactively to ensure fairness, social justice and government accountability for Floridians through focused, high-impact initiatives, policy advocacy and civil litigation.
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (the Law Center) is the only national organization dedicated solely to using the power of the law to prevent and end homelessness. With the support of a large network of pro bono lawyers, we address the immediate and long-term needs of people who are homeless or at risk through outreach and training, advocacy, impact litigation, and public education. The Housing Not Handcuffs campaign is a project supported by the AmeriCorps VISTA program.