Firm News
Katten’s Thomas Leanse Presents Arguments to California Supreme Court in Landmark Retail Boycott Leafleting Case
October 5, 2007
LOS ANGELES – Thomas J. Leanse, chair of the Shopping Center and Retail Law Practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, this week presented arguments before the California Supreme Court in a landmark case which will determine the constitutionality of boycott leafleting on shopping center property. Representing the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and California Business Properties Association as amicus curiae counsel, Mr. Leanse argued that shopping centers are private property and shopping center owners must be allowed to protect their business interests.
The case, Fashion Valley Mall vs. NLRB, involves a 1998 incident in San Diego in which a Teamsters affiliate involved in a labor dispute with the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper handed out leaflets outside the Robinsons-May department store at the Fashion Valley Mall. The leaflets informed patrons that the store advertised in the newspaper and asked shoppers to call the publication’s chief executive. The union representatives were ejected from the property by the shopping center manager because they hadn't completed a permit application agreeing to abide by the mall's rules, which included a ban on advocating boycotts. The case stems from the court's 1979 ruling in Robins v. PruneYard Shopping Center that extended the state constitutional right of free expression to large shopping centers, which the justices at the time likened to a town square.
“A shopping center is not Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, it is not Pershing Square in Los Angeles, it is not Union Square in San Francisco,” said Mr. Leanse. “It is a privately-owned shopping center, and while it may have some attributes similar to those found in a traditional public forum, it is not a traditional public forum, and visitors must not be allowed to interfere with the merchants’ right to conduct their business."
The court is scheduled to issue a ruling on the case within 90 days. Mr. Leanse is available for interviews about the case and its implications.
Katten’s Shopping Center and Retail Law Practice’s clients include numerous nationally-recognized shopping center owners and developers. Currently, the practice represents clients totaling more than 20 million square feet of regional mall space. The practice routinely advises landlords and tenants regarding lease and sublease concerns, including negotiating many of the country’s largest leases. It represents clients in appraisal and arbitration proceedings as well as in lease disputes and determination.