Chambers v. Peach County, Ga.
Chambers v. Peach County, Ga.
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Veeda Chambers is the owner of the “Neon Cowboy,” a lounge which provides adult entertainment and serves alcohol in
1. An interlocutory injunction “is a device to keep the parties in order to prevent one from hurting the other whilst their respective rights are under adjudication .... [TJhere must be some vital necessity for the injunction so that one of the parties will not be damaged and left without adequate remedy.” Price v. Empire Land Co., 218 Ga. 80, 85 (126 SE2d 626) (1962). The trial court has broad discretion to decide whether to grant or deny a request for an interlocutory injunction (OCGA § 9-5-8; Avnet, Inc. v. Wyle Laboratories, 263 Ga. 615 (1) (437 SE2d 302) (1993)), and the appellate courts will not disturb the trial court’s exercise of its discretion unless a manifest abuse of discretion is shown or there was no evidence on which to base the ruling. Kennedy v. W. M. Sheppard Lumber Co., 261 Ga. 145 (1) (401 SE2d 515) (1991).
2. The new ordinance is designed to combat the undesirable secondary effects of sexually explicit businesses. In enacting the new ordinance, the county commission considered and relied upon evi
Since the new ordinance is designed to combat the undesirable secondary effects of sexually explicit businesses, it is content-neutral and is put to the three-pronged test enunciated in Paramount Pictures Corp. v. Busbee, 250 Ga. 252 (1) (297 SE2d 250) (1982), for content-neutral legislation. Chambers v. Peach County, supra, 266 Ga. at 319. The ordinance in question meets the Paramount criteria in that it furthers important governmental interests (the reduction of crime and the protection of property values) which interests are unrelated to the suppression of speech, and the incidental restriction of speech is no greater than necessary to further the governmental interests. Quetgles v. City of Columbus, 268 Ga. 619 (2) (491 SE2d 778) (1997).
3. Appellant next asserts that the 1996 ordinance cannot be applied constitutionally to Neon Cowboy because the club provided adult entertainment and alcoholic beverages prior to passage of the ordinance. We recently addressed a similar assertion in Goldrush II v. City of Marietta, 267 Ga. 683 (6-10) (482 SE2d 347) (1997). There we held that the holders of licenses issued by the City of Marietta on an annual basis did not have a protectable property interest in the renewal of their licenses (id. at Division 9), and that the licensees did not acquire protectable property interests in the renewal of the licenses by their expenditure of funds upon the initial issuance of the licenses. Id. at Division 10. Furthermore, appellant had no vested right to offer adult entertainment and alcohol service because none of the licenses held by Neon Cowboy specifically permitted that conduct. Quetgles v. City of Columbus, supra, 268 Ga. 619 (3).
4. Finally, appellant contends the new adult entertainment ordinance is unconstitutionally overbroad and gives county officials such unbridled discretion as to render the ordinance unconstitutionally vague. Appellant suggests the ordinance restricts non-obscene, nude one-on-one lingerie modeling and authorizes county officials to decide arbitrarily whether licenses should be issued and renewed. We conclude that the presence of a severability clause in the new ordinance supports the trial court’s determination that an interlocutory injunc
In light of the foregoing, the trial court did not err when it denied an interlocutory injunction to appellant.
Judgment affirmed.
While appellant followed the procedure to obtain interlocutory review by this Court of the trial court’s denial of appellant’s motion for a temporary restraining order, the trial court analyzed the motion as one for an interlocutory injunction, the denial of which is directly appealable pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (4).
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I dissent to this Court’s rulings in Division 3 of the majority opinion and to the judgment.
See Goldrush II v. City of Marietta, 267 Ga. 683, 699-700 (482 SE2d 347) (1997) (Sears, J., dissenting); Quetgles v. City of Columbus, 268 Ga. 619 (491 SE2d 778) (1997) (Sears, J., dissenting).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHAMBERS v. PEACH COUNTY Et Al.
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- 31 cases
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- Published