California Land Use Blog

By Matthew Hinks

For those of us involved or merely interested in the seemingly endless spate of sign-related litigation, the Court of Appeal's opinion in Summit Media LLC v. City of Los Angeles has been long anticipated. The Summit case was unlike many of the sign cases winding their way through California's state and federal courts, which have largely involved constitutional challenges to various sign-related laws and actions or enforcement actions by local municipalities against non-complying signs. Summit involved litigation between sign companies -- including two of the largest sign companies in the country. The court of appeal's opinion in the Summit case, which holds that a city may not enter into a settlement agreement allowing for digital billboards when they are expressly prohibited by ordinance, is a stunning defeat for those two particular companies, but surely will not be the last we hear of digital sign conversions in the City of Los Angeles.

By Matthew Hinks

The billboard wars rage on. In the latest battle, the court in West Washington Properties, LLC v. California Department of Transportation narrowly interpreted a provision of the Outdoor Advertising Act ("OAA"), which provides a rebuttable presumption of legality to advertising displays erected for more than five years without Caltrans enforcement, rejected equitable defenses and dismissed at the pleading stage plaintiff's inverse condemnation claims. The opinion should be a wake up call for companies engaged in or considering transactions involving the transfer of sign rights.

By Matthew Hinks

The Ninth Circuit has issued a new "chapter in 'the story of billboards.'" Billboard companies and advertisers should take note of the court's opinion. Although the opinion refused to extend full First Amendment protection to billboards and advertising related to underlying expressive works, the court -- recognizing its central role in defining the contours of Constitutional liberties -- rejected the trial court's reasoning that a municipality should be afforded deference to define the divide between commercial and noncommercial speech.

By Matthew Hinks

Sign litigation, especially litigation over the constitutionality of ordinances and regulations affecting signage, often involves familiar, but competing, concepts. Although the courts recognize that outdoor advertising signs are subject to certain protections as "commercial speech" under the First Amendment, municipalities and agencies nevertheless hold significant authority to regulate signage. So long as the regulations on signage are content neutral and further the recognized governmental interests in protecting traffic safety and eliminating visual blight, the regulations are generally upheld. However, where an ordinance or regulatory scheme affords local officials too much -- or in the courts' parlance, "unbridled" -- discretion over whether to approve, deny or condition the approval of a sign, the courts are willing to step in and strike down the offending regulation. Although not a sign case, a new opinion out of the Ninth Circuit, Kaahumanu v. State of Hawaii, 2012 DJAR 7472 (9th Cir., June 6, 2012), offers a wonderful illustration of these competing principles.

Sheri Bonstelle

The right to install a supergraphic on a side of a building in Hollywood has been an ongoing struggle between owners and the City for years. The attorneys at JMBM have extensive experience in representing hotel owners and sign companies in obtaining appropriate City Council approval. Call us to see how we can help.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously in September to ban the installation of new "supergraphic" advertising displays in Hollywood, while grandfathering in currently planned signs and allowing for designated "sign districts."