Kindt
Kindt v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Fernandez, J.
Albert J. Kindt, an owner of rental property, appeals the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board and its past and current members in his action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. He claims that the defendants conspired to violate his First Amendment right to free speech by ejecting him from public board meetings and by discriminating between speakers who supported their views and speakers who opposed them. We affirm.
BACKGROUND FACTS
Kindt is- an owner of apartment buildings in Santa Monica, California, and a frequent participant in meetings of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, an elected public body. Board regulations provide that any member of the public who wishes to address the Board on a particular item must fill out a slip of paper for that item (known as a “chit”). 1 *268 Speakers are then allowed to address the Board for three minutes in the order that their chits are drawn.
Before March 8, 1990, the Board allowed chits to be filed and heard on Items 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, and 13. Quite a lot of discussion was generated during some of those items. For example, for several months three Board members refused to salute the flag…