Orange : Ad Firm Sues Over Billboard Ordinance
An advertising firm has filed suit against the city, alleging that an ordinance that bans billboards is unconstitutional because it deprives them of their right to free speech.
Attorney Gary Mobley said the suit, filed in U.S. District Court Monday on behalf of the National Advertising Co., asks for $3 million in damages and a ruling that the law is unconstitutional. “One of the problems is that the law allows on-premise advertising but not off-premise, which means billboards,” he said.
National Advertising applied for permits to put up 11 billboards and all were turned down, he said. It will probably be “about a year” before the case comes to trial, he said.
“We’ll be analyzing the complaint and all the cases involved--including, of course, the Metromedia case--before we decide how to reply,” said City Atty. Fred Roberts, referring to a recent case in which a San Diego ordinance was outlawed. He said that the Orange law differs from San Diego’s in that Orange bans all billboards.
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