Left Field Media LLC v. City of Chicago, Ill.

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying plaintiff’s motion for issuance of preliminary injunction in section 1983 action, alleging that defendant’s ordinance, which prohibited all peddling on streets adjacent to Wrigley Field, violated its First Amendment rights when plaintiff tried to sell its quarterly publication Chicago Baseball within prohibited space. Instant ordinance was content-neutral, since it regulated all sales alike, and defendant’s need to restrict peddling in stadium’s crowded immediate environs supplied rational basis for such ordinance. On remand, though, Dist. Ct. should consider in context of plaintiff’s request for permanent injunction plaintiff’s allegation that defendant discriminated in enforcement of said ordinance where police allowed Cubs’ employees to sell programs and logo-bearing merchandise in prohibited space, since ordinance applied to all adjacent sidewalks. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in failing to issue preliminary injunction against enforcement of defendant’s Peddler’s License ordinance that required plaintiff to obtain licenses for individuals selling its publication since: (1) plaintiff failed to present evidence that showed how seriously such ordinance impacted plaintiff’s business; and (2) record was unclear whether police treated plaintiff’s publication as “newspaper,” which would exempt plaintiff from obtaining said license.