Courthouse News reported that San Francisco Mayor London Breed cannot be sued for allegedly pressuring advertising firms to pull a political rival’s billboards that were denounced as racist by the mayor and several other elected officials, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Failed mayoral candidate Ellen Zhou sued Mayor Breed, Clear Channel Outdoor LLC and OutFront Media — in November last year, after the companies took down two of her campaign billboards.
One of the mega-sized ads depicted Mayor Breed, who is black, reclining in a red dress with her feet propped up on a desk lined with stacks of cash and holding a wad of money in one hand and a cigar in the other. Another billboard showed Breed driving a red bus with the text “Werewolves of London Tours” near cars with smashed windows.
Mayor Breed indicated that the billboard was hurtful and disrespectful. Several other elected officials also condemned the ad as racist, sexist and offensive. Both Clear Channel and Outfront removed the billboards, Clear Channel indicating that it removed the billboards because it reserves the right to remove advertising that is offensive to community standards.
Candidate Ellen Zhou filed suit in November 2019 alleging:
- A claim against all the defendants for violations of the First Amendment
- A breach of contract claim against Clear Channel and OutFront
- Intentional interference with contractual relations
In a 13-page ruling, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III rejected that theory. He cited a 1984 Third Circuit decision, R.C. Maxwell Co. v. New Hope, which found a town government’s letter urging a landlord to take down billboards was not coercive. Zhou failed to show Breed provided “such significant encouragement” that the billboard companies’ decisions to pull the ads were “effectively government decisions,” Orrick concluded.
“No one threatened legal action or any other negative ramifications to encourage removal of the billboards,” Orrick wrote.
The judge also refused to accept another theory — that the city’s power to regulate the companies and “substantial revenue” earned from business with the city provides another basis for pressuring them to do the government’s bidding.
Breed, a Democrat, easily won re-election last November with more than 125,000 San Franciscans, or 70.6%, voting for her.
Insider Take: Only in San Francisco
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
