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ACLU Sues Fox Hills Mall Over Restrictions on Activists

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Times Staff Writer

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued a company belonging to one of Southern California’s leading shopping center magnates for allegedly refusing to let peace activists hand out leaflets at a Culver City mall.

The suit alleges that managers of the Fox Hills Shopping Mall in Culver City denied members of the Westside Sane/Freeze access to the mall, violating their rights to exercise free speech.

Sane/Freeze is a group campaigning for a ban on nuclear testing. Its coordinator, Andrew Tonkovich, said he applied for permission last November to distribute leaflets at the mall and to talk to shoppers but was turned down because his cause was “political.”

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Tonkovich and ACLU attorney Robin Toma said the mall’s policies allow people into the mall to register voters or circulate petitions but won’t permit people advocating nonpartisan political issues.

“The mall’s policies violate the California Constitution because they arbitrarily discriminate among speakers based on their message,” Toma said in a prepared statement.

The Fox Hills Shopping Mall is owned by the San Diego-based Ernest W. Hahn Co., which owns numerous malls throughout Southern California.

Other Malls Sued

Attorneys for the firm were not immediately available for comment.

Toma said two other Hahn-owned malls have been sued for allegedly restricting activists’ ability to canvass customers.

In Culver City, Fox Hills manager Joanne Sudjin Brosi said she was unaware of the lawsuit but that the mall does not deny access to groups that want to campaign for political causes.

“We go by the letter of the law,” she said. “We are private property, we do have merchants, so we can’t have people that disrupt business. . . . (But) as far as not allowing access, if it is of any political nature, we cannot deny access.”

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She said the company receives several applications a week from people who want to promote political causes, and the applications are usually granted.

In its suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the ACLU is seeking a preliminary injunction to allow Sane/Freeze members to “engage in peaceful political expression at the mall.”

The suit also asks the court to declare as unconstitutional the rules that the mall management asks users to obey. Toma said the rules, such as restricting politicos to certain areas and requiring a $75 deposit, are “unnecessarily burdensome.”

Tonkovich said his group frequently visits malls, libraries, supermarkets and schools to speak on the arms race.

“We just wanted to talk to people and educate them on the arms race,” he said.

‘Big Following’

“We’ve had a presence in malls all over the Westside,” Tonkovich said. “We are really anxious to get our message out. We have a big following in the Culver City area and want more in areas where we don’t. It’s hard to get the message out when you are denied access.”

Toma said the state Supreme Court, in a landmark decision in 1979, established that Californians have free speech and petitioning rights in privately owned shopping malls.

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