National Advertising Company v. City of Orange

National Advertising applied for permits to erect billboards in the City of Orange, California. The City denied the applications, and stipulates it did so “solely because of the provisions of the Sign Ordinance prohibiting off-site signs.”

Orange City’s Sign Ordinance bars throughout the City “general or billboard advertising signs,” defined as “sign[s] which direct[ ] attention to a business, commodity, industry or other activity which is sold, offered or conducted elsewhere than on the premises upon which such sign is located, and which may be sold, offered or conducted on such premises only incidentally, if at all.” Orange Municipal Code §§ 17.78.030F, 17.78.080A. Excepted from this general prohibition are certain governmental signs and flags, memorial tablets, recreational signs, and temporary political, real estate, construction, and advertising signs. Orange Municipal Code § 17.78.050.

National filed suit alleging the City’s ordinance was unconstitutional on its face and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The district court granted National’s motion in part, holding the ordinance unconstitutional because it prefers…