Brickbat: Lawn Sign Litigation

Marvin Peavy, a homeowner in Walton County, Florida, won a lawsuit against the county after officials tried to fine him for hanging giant political banners on his house along Scenic Highway 30A. Peavy first put up signs in 2020 to support Donald Trump's first presidential reelection campaign, but the county said they violated property maintenance rules and started charging him $50 a day, totaling over $63,000 in fines. Peavy fought back, saying his right to free speech under the First Amendment allowed it, and after years of legal battles, a judge agreed, ruling that the county was infringing on his free speech. The judge also ordered the county to pay Peavy $42,000 to cover his legal fees.

Comments

[Medulla Oblongata]

Good thing he was in Florida and not California or New York.

[Fist of Etiquette]

No punitive damages, eh? Well, that will certainly bolster constitutional protections.

[Vernon Depner]

And as usual, the taxpayers get the bill. No damages from the assholes who actually violated the law. Fuck Qualified Immunity.

[Chipper Chunked Chile Con Congress (ex NCW)]

Indeed. It wasn't "the county" that fined him for obviously protected speech. It was people working for the county that did that. At the very least make them be the ones to pay his legal bills.

[Rossami]

Punitive damages against government entities do nothing to punish the wrong-doers. They only punish taxpayers.

[Chumby]

The faggotry known as the “Scenic Corridor Code” has certain exemptions for political signs around election times. That is so cute and so anti-American, anti-Constitution, and anti-1A. Doesn’t look like that bowel movement of a law is getting nixed though. The linked article intimated that this came on Walton County’s radar after some do-gooder reported on Peavy. That motherfucker should be deported.

[Chipper Chunked Chile Con Congress (ex NCW)]

That motherfucker should be deported.

To the afterlife.

[jimc5499]

Right after the Election the area where I work had one of the Township Commissioners state that all Trump signs had to be down with in 3 days. The number of signs increased along with signs saying "See you in Court Commissioner XXXXXXXXX". It was never mentioned again. The sign are still there.