Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Sioux City, Iowa

• Decision Date: 20 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. C 03-4121-MWB.,C 03-4121-MWB.
• Citation: 467 F.Supp.2d 925
• Parties: DOCTOR JOHN'S, INC., an Iowa Corporation, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF SIOUX CITY, IOWA, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa

467 F.Supp.2d 925

DOCTOR JOHN'S, INC., an Iowa Corporation, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF SIOUX CITY, IOWA, Defendant.

No. C 03-4121-MWB.

United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Western Division.

December 20, 2006.

Brian Blane Vakulskas, Vakulskas & Hoffineyer, Sioux City, IA, Steven H. Swander, Law Office of Steven H. Swander, Fort Worth, TX, W. Andrew McCullough, McCullough & Associates, L.L.C., Midvale, UT, for Plaintiff.

Connie E. Anstey, James L. Abshier, City Attorney's Office, Sioux City, IA, Scott D. Bergthold, Law Office of Scott D. Bergthold, P.L.L.C., Chattanooga, TN, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING DEFEDANT'S MOTION TO PRESERVE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY

BENNETT, Chief Judge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

                I. INTRODUCTION....................................................... 927
                   A. Factual Background.............................................. 927
                   B. Prior Proceedings............................................... 928
                   C. Arguments Of The Parties........................................ 929
                II. LEGAL ANALYSIS.................................................... 930
                    A. The City's Assertion Of A Right To Jury Trial.................. 930
                    B. Timeliness Of The Motion To Preserve Right To Jury Trial....... 931
                    C. The Scope Of The Seventh Amendment Right To Jury Trial......... 932
                       1. The Supreme Court's decision in City of Monterey............ 932
                       2. Analysis under City of Monterey............................. 935
                          a. First prong of the Seventh Amendment inquiry............. 935
                          b. Second prong of the Seventh Amendment inquiry............ 936
                III. CONCLUSION....................................................... 939
                

In this action for compensatory, declaratory, and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a putative "adult entertainment business" challenges the constitutionality and applicability of a string of amendments to city zoning ordinances regulating the location of "adult entertainment businesses" within the limits of the defendant city. Although the court disposed of numerous issues in rulings on two rounds of summary judgment motions, the court bifurcated the proceedings for ultimate determination of remaining issues by setting remaining "constitutionality" questions for bench trial and remaining "damages" issues for jury trial. The defendant city has now moved "to preserve" its Seventh Amendment right to jury trial on all remaining issues in reliance on the Supreme Court's decision in City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd., 526 U.S. 687, 119 S.Ct. 1624, 143. L.Ed.2d 882 (1999). Thus, the court must revisit the question of what, if any, of the remaining issues are properly the province of the court and what issues are properly the province of the jury.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Factual Background

The court has recounted the factual background to these proceedings in, considerable detail in prior rulings.¹ For present purposes, suffice it to say that, at some time in the fall of 2003, Doctor John's leased property in a relatively new and still developing commercial area near the southern edge of Sioux City, Iowa (the City). The location of the store was zoned as General Business-Commercial Planned Development ("BG-C") under the Sioux City Municipal Code. That is, it is in a General Business ("BG") zone, with a Commercial Planned Development Overlay ("-C"). Doctor John's intended to sell a variety of merchandise, including primarily lingerie, swim wear, women's shoes, lotions, and oils, as well as videos (both "adult" and otherwise), games, novelty items, and "marital aids" or "adult toys," including, for example, vibrators, "dildos," "masturbation toys," and blow up dolls (some described as "anatomically correct").

Shortly after Doctor John's representatives contacted the City Attorney concerning zoning requirements for the intended location of that store, and before Doctor John's could complete preparations to open its store in Sioux City, the City Council passed a series of significant amendments to Sioux City's zoning requirements for "adult entertainment businesses," including what has been called in this litigation the October 2003 "Moratorium" Amendment and the January 2004 Amendments. Those amendments prevented Doctor John's from opening its store at its chosen location. The amendments also prompted Doctor John's to file this lawsuit and to seek a preliminary injunction on enforcement of the ordinances. After delays caused by the City's enforcement of its amended zoning ordinances, Doctor John's opened its Sioux City store in late February or early March 2004 pursuant to a preliminary injunction from this court enjoining enforcement of the January 2004 Amendments.

In December 2004, some time after the court had enjoined enforcement of the January 2004 Amendments, the City passed additional amendments to the pertinent ordinances regulating "adult entertainment businesses," which are identified in this litigation as the December 2004 Amendments. The December 2004 Amendments expressly superseded the January 2004 Amendments. Doctor John's amended its Complaint to challenge the constitutionality of the December 2004 Amendments, as well as the October 2003 "Moratorium" Amendment and the January 2004 Amendments.

B. Prior Proceedings

Some ten months after the court's preliminary injunction ruling, on December 20, 2004, Doctor John's filed a Motion For Partial Summary Judgment on the constitutional invalidity of the January 2004 Amendments. On February 22, 2005, the City filed its own Motion For Summary Judgment asserting that challenges to the January 2004 Amendments were "mooted" by enactment of the December 2004 Amendments. In the alternative, the City argued that Doctor John's would have been a "sex shop" under the "sex toys" definitiotis in the January 2004 Amendments, which did not implicate First Amendment protections, and that the "combination" provision of the January 2004 Amendments involving "adult media" was constitutional under the applicable level of scrutiny for regulation of expression, which the City contended was "intermediate scrutiny." Thus, the City asserted that Doctor John's could have been lawfully excluded from its chosen location under those provisions.

In a lengthy ruling on those motions, which the court filed on September 28, 2005, Doctor John's, Inc. v. City of Sioux City, Iowa, 389 F.Supp.2d 1096 (N.D.Iowa 2005) (Doctor John's II), the court granted in part and denied in part the motion by Doctor John's, expressly finding and declaring the "combination" definition of a "sex shop" in the January 2004 Amendments unconstitutional under the First Amendment, as a matter of law, to the extent that it defined a "sex shop" on the basis of a "combination" of two or more categories of items including "adult media," and permanently enjoining the City from pursuing, instituting, continuing, or completing any and all enforcement actions or otherwise barring business activities of any business on the basis of the definition of a "sex shop" in the January 2004 Amendments to the extent that the definition of a "sex shop" is based on the "combination" of any two or more categories of items including "adult media." The court also denied in its entirety the City's motion. Finally, the court directed that, to the extent that provisions of the court's February 26, 2004, preliminary injunction had not been made permanent by its ruling, that preliminary injunction would continue in full force and effect.

A second round of summary judgment motions commenced with a Second Motion For Summary Judgment filed by Doctor John's on August 22, 2005, but that motion was held in abeyance pending discovery. Upon completion of discovery, Doctor John's filed its January 12, 2006, Motion To Bifurcate Damages, and on April 12 2006, the City filed a Motion To Reconsider Memorandum Opinion And Order Regarding Cross-Motions For Summary Judgment On October 2003 And January 2004 Ordinances, as well as a Second Motion ]'or Summary Judgment Re: Non-Media Portions Of Ordinance 2004-0004 And Constitutionality Of Ordinance 2004-1061. In a Memorandum Opinion And Order, filed July 21, 2006, regarding the parties' second round of summary judgment motions, the court granted the. Second Motion For Summary Judgment filed by Doctor John's by finding and declaring that the "sexual device shop" definition in the December 2004 Amendments is unconstitutional and that any enforcement of that provision is permanently enjoined. The court denied the City's Motion To Reconsider, but granted in part and denied in part the City's Second Motion For Summary Judgment. Specifically, the court denied the part of the City's summary judgment motion seeking summary judgment on the constitutionality of non-media portions of the January 2004 Amendments, denied the part of the City's summary judgment motion seeking summary judgment on the constitutionality of the December 2004 Amendments pertaining to the "adult bookstore or adult video store" provisions and the "sexual device shop" provisions, but granted the City's summary judgment motion as to the "civil disability" provision of the December 2004 Amendments, finding and declaring that the "civil disability" provision of the December 2004 Amendments is both constitutional and currently applicable to Doctor John's. However, the court reserved for trial questions concerning the "constitutionality" and "applicability" of the "adult bookstore or adult video store" provisions of the December 2004 Amendments.

In the portion of that ruling that is, perhaps, of greatest immediate interest here, the court set a bench trial on the remaining "constitutionality" issues for September 11, 2006, and a jury trial on "damages" issues for January 22, 2007. By orders dated August 17, 2006 (docket nos. 142 & 143), the bench trial on "constitutionality" issues was rescheduled to begin on January 22, 2007, and the jury trial...