GEFT has sued the Marion County, Indiana for the third time.  GEFT won the first two rounds:  a 2016 lawsuit over wrongful termination of a billboard permit and a 2017 law suit which voided the Marion County sign code on first amendment grounds.  This time GEFT is challenging the city’s decision to deny three digital billboards insider the 465 beltway around Indianapolis.

GEFT’s latest lawsuit argues:

• that the ordinance violates the first amendment by banning off premise signs while permitting on premise signs and on premise digital signs.
• that the ordinance fails to set forth narrow objective and definite standards to insure decisions are not content based
• that the ordinance is subjective and value laden and creates a high rise that a decision will be made against a sign based on the content of the sign or the speaker seeking the variance.

Billboard Insider’s take:  We wouldn’t bet against GEFT.  It’s beaten Marion County twice and has successfully challenged the out of home rules of Evansville and Monroe County.  Insider thinks that Marion County made a mistake when they changed to an on and off premise distinction in the sign code after the sign code was declared invalid in 2017.  A better fix might have been one set of rules for signs for which compensation is paid and one set of rules for sign for which no compensation is paid.  The US Supreme Court is considering the validity of one set of rules for off-premise and one set of rules for off-premise in Reagan vs Austin.

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