DETROIT — Two $800 littering tickets have turned into a constitutional battle in federal court, where the Detroit Free Press is suing a Michigan township over the right to deliver a weekly news and shopping guide to residents.
At issue is a weekly publication called Select, which gets delivered in pink plastic bags.
Orion Township, Mich., officials are calling it "litter" and have threatened to fine the Free Press, which like USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI) and is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK, up to $800 for every non-requested copy that shows up on residents' doorsteps or driveways, calling it a violation of their littering ordinance. So far, the newspaper has received two littering tickets in the last month from the township.
But the Free Press isn't paying up.
Instead, the newspaper is suing Orion Township in a civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, claiming the newspaper's deliveries are protected by First Amendment law and efforts to interfere with them would be unconstitutional. The paper is seeking an injunction to stop the township from interfering with delivery and $5 million in punitive damages, arguing case law is on its side.
"There are numerous decisions that have addressed this exact issue," said Detroit Free Press attorney Herschel Fink, a First Amendment and media law expert who filed the lawsuit. "First Amendment protected material cannot be termed litter. Courts have been on this issue.
"It's outrageous that they would ignore the clear law and our warnings that this interference would be met with legal action."
Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett scoffed at the lawsuit.
"It’s an absolute joke and harassment," Barnett said of the newspaper's lawsuit. "It's bullying and intimidation."
Barnett said the township has received multiple complaints over the last year from residents about Select showing up on their property, when they don't want it. He said many residents, including himself, have contacted the newspaper to stop delivery, but the paper still shows up.
According to the Free Press, the Select section, which is also distributed with the Sunday newspaper to subscribers, is delivered free of charge to households that have signed up for it. These include about 2,500 homes in Orion Township since 2012. Fink said the paper says it "makes reasonable efforts" to make sure that Select is delivered only to those who wish to receive it and attaches a "stickie" to the front page of free copies that gives customers an opportunity to opt out.
