The Minnesota Supreme Court Agrees to Review Freedom of Expression Rights in Manufactured Home Parks
9/21/2006
Media Notice
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Martin Keller, Media Savant Communications Co.
612-729-8585, mkeller@mediasavantcom.com
Friends of the Court join APAC appeal including the ACLU, CSP, HPP, JCA, MICAH and others
THE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT AGREES TO REVIEW FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RIGHTS IN MANUFACTURED HOME PARKS; COURT TO HEAR CASE IN SPECIAL TRAVELING ORAL ARGUMENTS EVENT AT HUTCHINSON HIGH SCHOOL OCT. 11
MINNEAPOLIS , MN., – September 5, 2006 – How much can free speech rights be restricted by a manufactured (mobile) home park owner in Minnesota ? That’s the issue the Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to review on appeal on behalf of the nonprofit group that educates residents of manufactured parks in Minnesota about their legal rights (including their right to form resident associations), All Parks Alliance for Change ( APAC ), the plaintiff in the case. The defendant that owns the Lakeville park, Ardmor Village, Uniprop Manufacturing Housing Communities Income Fund, is based in Michigan and owns many other manufactured parks around the country.
The public and area high school students will have a chance to see Minnesota’s highest court in action when this case is presented live on October 11, 2006 , at Hutchinson High School in Hutchinson, Minnesota, west of the Twin Cities on Highway 7. The event is a rare opportunity to see important legal issues argued before the court.*
A growing list of housing advocates, faith groups and free speech supporters have joined the cause as individual amicus curiae (friend of the court) because of the many implications of case. These organizations include: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Housing Preservation Project (HPP); Jewish Community Action (JCA); Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH); Community Stabilization Project (CSP); and Minnesota Seniors Federation.
According to Kay Nord Hunt with Lommen, Abdo, Cole, King & Stageberg, P.A, the attorney representing APAC , the Supreme Court review is significant since it presents the first opportunity for the Supreme Court to interpret Minnesota’s “Freedom of Expression” statue (Minn. Stat. §327.13) and provide appropriate guidelines for what constitutes reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of speech in park communities.
APAC also argues that the company’s “No Contact” list – which was created when APAC made its first legal challenge – is illegal. This list does not create any distinction between commercial and non-commercial purposes, or between residents and non-residents. The Minnesota statute explicitly states that, “No park owner shall prohibit or adopt any rule prohibiting residents or other persons from peacefully organizing, assembling, canvassing, leafleting or otherwise exercising with the park their right of free expression for noncommercial purposes. A park owner may adopt and enforce rules that set reasonable limits as to the time, place and manner.”
“While APAC is the organization appealing this case to the state’s Supreme Court, a number of other organizations and the residents themselves could be adversely affected by the lower court ruling which upheld severe limits on free speech rights in park neighborhoods, including the “No Contact” list. The limits deny residents the most basic and fundamental method of learning about their rights under the law and working together to advance those rights,” says David Anderson, APAC Executive Director. “The current restrictions – Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. – impose unreasonable limits on interactions with and between: contact is limited primarily to when most people are at work; Jewish residents who honor the Sabbath do not have a weekend day in which they can receive or distribute information in person; and all residents are restricted from free speech – religious or non-religious – on Sundays.”
Initial lawsuit Began in 2003
- Grounds for the initial lawsuit were created when APAC was prohibited from leafleting in Ardmor Village by the operators of the park in April and June 2003.
- A lower court in March 2004 gave APAC temporary approval to leaflet the park, but the company instituted new rules restricting the hours and manner in which APAC could distribute information, and it established a “No Contact” list option for residents to sign.
- A Trial Court in November 2004 found Uniprop’s rules “unreasonable” but upheld the “No Contact” list and set the current hours for APAC ’s activities in the park.
- Uniprop appealed the Trial Court decision and the Court of Appeals affirmed it, setting in motion APAC ’s appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.
- APAC stated in its request for review to the Supreme Court that the Court of Appeals ignored the language of the “Freedom of Expression” statute and rejected First Amendment principles in doing so.
- The Supreme Court will hear argument on this case on October 11, 2006 .
"We believe basic First Amendment rights issues are at play in this case and that the high court has recognized that context in granting review,” Hunt says.
“ APAC and the communities it serves have no more effective means of communicating with residents in manufactured home parks,” Anderson states. “So when these opportunities are limited and constricted by things like a ‘No Contact’ list that appear to run contrary even to Lakeville’s code in these matters, other organizations with the same housing issues and free speech rights at stake as APAC have recognized the potential impact of a Supreme Court review.”
*About the Minnesota Supreme Court Traveling Oral Arguments
The state’s highest court will hear oral arguments of an actual case in the auditorium at Hutchinson High School on Wednesday, October 11. Hutchinson area students will pack the auditorium to watch oral arguments and ask questions of the justices. The visit is part of a biannual program that seeks to teach students about the court system and build the public’s trust and confidence in the Judicial Branch.
About All Parks Alliance for Change
All Parks Alliance for Change ( APAC ) is the statewide organization for Minnesota’s 180,000 manufactured home park residents. The primary purpose of APAC is to educate park residents and to help them to advocate on their own behalf. Through education, grassroots organizing and leadership development, APAC works to improve the quality of life in park neighborhoods, to protect the rights of park residents, to advance public policy change that supports safe, healthy, affordable, and stable park communities, and to preserve these vital units of affordable housing.
For more information – including a full copy of APAC ’s Supreme Court brief, or to interview Kay Nord Hunt – please contact Martin Keller at Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585 , mkeller@mediasavantcom.com.