LAKE WORTH BEACH OFFICIALS REPEAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL ORDINANCES IN FACE OF FEDERAL LAWSUIT

Oct 21, 2022

Recognizing they were likely to lose a potentially costly legal fight, City of Lake Worth Beach officials repealed two ordinances at the center of a federal lawsuit Southern Legal Counsel and West Palm Beach pro bono attorney Sabarish P. Neelakanta of SPN Law filed in June.

The lawsuit challenged the city’s enforcement of local ordinances that unlawfully prohibited public charitable solicitation, which is protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The City of Lake Worth Beach had adopted ordinances that prohibited individuals experiencing homelessness from soliciting charitable donations in traditional public fora.

Lake Worth Beach officials were aware that SLC and co-counsel had recently reached a settlement with neighboring West Palm Beach involving a similar ordinance.

“Anti-panhandling laws have been thrown out by federal judges throughout the country in recent years, including in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County, both of which repealed their ordinances but were ordered to pay attorney fees,” Palm Beach Post reporter Jorge Milian wrote in September 2021.

SLC and other civil rights organizations have successfully fought to overturn similar ordinances in Ocala, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Fort Myers, Tampa, and Miami. And SLC succeeded in stopping the Florida Highway Patrol from arresting people for requesting charitable help in public rights of way after Florida statutes restricting the practice had been declared unconstitutional.