Adult Video Ass'n v. Barr

• Decision Date: 18 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-55252,90-55252
• Citation: 960 F.2d 781
• Parties: ADULT VIDEO ASSOCIATION, Doe, Inc., Roe, Inc., Paul Poe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. William BARR, * Attorney General of the United States, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 781

960 F.2d 781

60 USLW 2598

ADULT VIDEO ASSOCIATION, Doe, Inc., Roe, Inc., Paul Poe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. William BARR, ^* Attorney General of the

United States, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 90-55252.

United States Court of Appeals,

Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted May 6, 1991.

Decided March 12, 1992.

As Amended June 18, 1992.

John H. Weston, G. Randall Garrou, Clyde F. DeWitt and Cathy E. Crosson, Richard G. N. Weston, Weston, Sarno, Garrou & DeWitt, Beverly Hills, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Stan Blumenfeld, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before: TANG, REINHARDT and WIGGINS, Circuit Judges.

TANG, Circuit Judge:

Adult Video Association, Doe, Inc., Roe, Inc., and Paul Poe filed an action seeking a declaration that the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act's ("RICO") criminal provisions are facially unconstitutional when enforced against obscenity offenses. The district court granted the government's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The plaintiffs appeal only the district court's dismissal of their First Amendment challenge to RICO's criminal provisions. We affirm in part and remand in part.

BACKGROUND

RICO, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968, imposes severe penalties on any person convicted of engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity. The penalties include prison terms of up to twenty years, substantial fines, and forfeiture of

(1) any interest the [defendant] has acquired or maintained in violation of [RICO];

(2) any--

(A) interest in;

(B) security of;

(C) claim against; or

(D) property or contractual right of any kind affording a source of influence over;

any enterprise which the [defendant] has established, operated, controlled, conducted, or participated in the conduct of in violation of [RICO]; and

(3) any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds which the [defendant] obtained, directly or indirectly, from racketeering activity or unlawful debt collection in violation of [RICO].

18 U.S.C. § 1963(a). Forfeiture is mandatory upon conviction. Id.

The statute also permits the government to apply to a district court for a pre-trial order to preserve assets for forfeiture. 18 U.S.C. § 1963(d). Courts may authorize pre-trial seizures of assets, issue restraining orders and injunctions, require the execution of performance bonds, and "take any other action to preserve the availability of property ... for forfeiture." 18 U.S.C. § 1963(d)(1).

A defendant is guilty of engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity if that person commits two or more acts of "racketeering activity." 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5). The statute includes a laundry list of racketeering activities, any one of which may serve as a predicate offense in a pattern of racketeering. 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1). In 1984, Congress added to the list of predicate offenses "any act ... dealing in obscene matter ... which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year" and "any act which is indictable under" the federal obscenity laws, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461-1465. 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1); see also Pub.L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1837 (1984).

The appellants, Adult Video Association, Doe, Inc., Roe, Inc., and Paul Poe (collectively, "Adult Video") are a producer, distributor, retailer, and consumer of sexually explicit videotapes, respectively. They brought an action against the Attorney General of the United States challenging RICO's provisions as facially unconstitutional under the First, Fifth, and Eighth amendments to the federal Constitution. ¹

Adult Video's complaint asserts that RICO's authorization of pre-trial seizures and its comprehensive post-trial forfeiture provisions amount to unconstitutional prior restraints on speech. Adult Video also argues that the severe penalties RICO authorizes for as few as two obscenity violations, when combined with the inherent uncertainty of deciding what qualifies as obscenity, chills constitutionally protected erotic and sexually explicit speech. In support of its position, Adult Video cites the decision of Roe, Inc. not to rent or sell any sexually explicit videotapes and Roe, Inc.'s inability to obtain any non-explicit, erotic videotapes due to distributors' liability concerns. Adult Video also points to Paul Poe's asserted inability to rent or to buy sexually explicit videos for home viewing, because video stores fear that they will become the object of a racketeering prosecution.

The government moved under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) to dismiss Adult Video's action for failure to state a claim. In August 1989, the district court granted the motion with respect to every claim except the count challenging RICO's civil remedies. The court rejected Adult Video's argument that a First Amendment chill emanates from a combination of (i) the inherent ambiguities in the definition of obscenity, (ii) the lax scienter requirement for obscenity, and (iii) the severe punishments RICO authorizes. ² The court characterized Adult Video's argument as little more than "an artful attempt to bypass" the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973).

With respect to Adult Video's prior restraint argument, the district court held that RICO imposed "subsequent punishment," rather than a prior restraint, on defendants duly convicted of obscenity violations. Relying on Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc., 478 U.S. 697, 106 S.Ct. 3172, 92 L.Ed.2d 568 (1986), the district court concluded that such subsequent punishment did not run afoul of the First Amendment.

Finally, the district court rejected the argument that section 1963(d)'s authorization of pre-trial seizures made the provision facially unconstitutional. The court acknowledged that the Supreme Court's opinion in Fort Wayne Books, Inc. v. Indiana, 489 U.S. 46, 109 S.Ct. 916, 103 L.Ed.2d 34 (1989), effectively foreclosed pre-trial seizures of allegedly obscene materials under RICO. The district court nonetheless found facial invalidation inappropriate because section 1963(d) authorizes a variety of other pre-trial measures the facial constitutionality of which Adult Video does not question.

In January 1990, Adult Video filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of its only remaining claim (the constitutionality of RICO's civil remedies). The district court granted the motion and entered a final judgment on January 25, 1990.

Adult Video subsequently filed a timely notice of appeal to this court.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

We review the district court's dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim de novo. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. Continental Nat'l Am. Ins. Cos., 861 F.2d 1184, 1185 (9th Cir.1988). A complaint should not be dismissed unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of its claim which would entitle it to relief. Western Reserve Oil & Gas Co. v. New, 765 F.2d 1428, 1430 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1056, 106 S.Ct. 795, 88 L.Ed.2d 773 (1986). We limit our review to the contents of the complaint and construe all allegations of material fact in the light most favorable to Adult Video. Id.

II. Standing and Ripeness

While the parties do not contest Adult Video's standing, we have an independent obligation to verify its authority to adjudicate this case. FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 230-31, 110 S.Ct. 596, 607-08, 107 L.Ed.2d 603 (1990). Because the federal government is not prosecuting Adult Video under RICO, Adult Video must show "a 'reasonable threat of prosecution for conduct allegedly protected by the Constitution.' " Polykoff v. Collins, 816 F.2d 1326, 1331 (9th Cir.1987) (quoting Ohio Civil Rights Comm'n v. Dayton Christian Schs., Inc., 477 U.S. 619, 625 n. 1, 106 S.Ct. 2718, 2721-22 n. 1, 91 L.Ed.2d 512 (1986)); see also Ripplinger v. Collins, 868 F.2d 1043, 1047 (9th Cir.1989).

Adult Video passes this test. Each of the parties alleges that it either produces, distributes, sells, or consumes erotic videotapes and that its activities either could subject it to RICO prosecution or are chilled by the threat of such prosecution. The government's active enforcement of RICO's obscenity provision against other videotape distributors ³ demonstrates that the threat of prosecution is real. See Virginia v. American Booksellers Ass'n, 484 U.S. 383, 392-93, 108 S.Ct. 636, 642-43, 98 L.Ed.2d 782 (1988).

While Adult Video does face a reasonable threat of prosecution, its complaint challenges more than the constitutionality of RICO obscenity prosecutions in and of themselves. Adult Video also objects to the seizures that may occur prior to prosecution and to the penalties that automatically follow a conviction. Consequently, our standing query must proceed one step further and determine whether Adult Video faces a reasonable threat of pre-trial seizure or post-conviction forfeiture. See Babbitt v. United Farm Workers Nat'l Union, 442 U.S. 289, 303, 99 S.Ct. 2301, 2311, 60 L.Ed.2d 895 (1979).

Nothing in the record before us indicates that the Department of Justice has conducted pre-trial seizures in RICO obscenity cases. See Fort Wayne Books, 489 U.S. at 67 n. 13, 109 S.Ct. at 929-30 n. 13 (noting that the United States asserted in its 1988 amicus curiae brief that it did not engage in such activity). The statute nevertheless authorizes such seizures. In addition, no formal policy of the Department of Justice prohibits its prosecutors or officers from pursuing pre-trial seizures, and enforcement practices may change at any time in any case. Consequently, Adult Video's apprehension concerning pre-trial seizure is reasonable. Therefore, Adult Video does have standing to litigate this claim.

Likewise, because RICO mandates forfeiture upon conviction and expressly defines its scope, leaving district courts no discretion to limit it, we...