Filed: Jul. 06, 2011
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 09-16359 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT JULY 6, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 03-01855 CV-HTW-1 KH OUTDOOR, L.L.C., GRANITE STATE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellants, versus FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (July 6, 2011) Before EDMONDSON, MARTIN and COX, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 09-16359 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT JULY 6, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 03-01855 CV-HTW-1 KH OUTDOOR, L.L.C., GRANITE STATE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellants, versus FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, Defendant-Appellee. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _ (July 6, 2011) Before EDMONDSON, MARTIN and COX, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 09-16359 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
JULY 6, 2011
________________________
JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 03-01855 CV-HTW-1
KH OUTDOOR, L.L.C.,
GRANITE STATE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC.,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
versus
FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA,
Defendant-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
________________________
(July 6, 2011)
Before EDMONDSON, MARTIN and COX, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
KH Outdoor, LLC and Granite State Outdoor Advertising, Inc. (collectively
“the advertising companies”) sued Fulton County, Georgia under 42 U.S.C. § 1983,
alleging, among other claims, that Fulton County’s improper processing and denial
of several billboard applications violated the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution. The district court dismissed the advertising companies’ claims for lack
of standing.
The threshold issue in this appeal is whether the district court erred in
concluding that the advertising companies lacked standing to assert their claims. The
district court determined that the companies lacked standing based on Fulton County
v. Galberaith,
647 S.E.2d 24 (Ga. 2007). The court interpreted Galberaith as
invalidating only a few distinct provisions of the Fulton County Sign Ordinance,
rather than the Ordinance as a whole. The court then reasoned that, because other
valid restrictions in the Ordinance preclude the advertising companies from erecting
their proposed signs, the advertising companies cannot demonstrate a redressable
injury.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has now held that the district court’s
interpretation of Galberaith is incorrect. In Fulton County v. Action Outdoor
Advertising, JV, __S.E.2d__, Nos. S11A0023, S11A0101,
2011 WL 2305974 (Ga.
June 13, 2011), the Supreme Court clarified that the Galberaith decision “struck
down as unconstitutional not only the regulatory provisions applicable to billboards
but the entire Fulton County sign ordinance[.]”
Id. at *1.
2
Because Action Outdoor has now made clear that the district court’s standing
determination was founded on an incorrect interpretation of Galberaith, we vacate
the district court’s judgment and remand this case to the district court for
reconsideration in light of Action Outdoor.
VACATED AND REMANDED.
3