Insider reported in February 2021 that Lamar Advertising had filed a federal lawsuit against the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky over regulations that ban freestanding electronic billboards in the county.

Lamar applied in September 2020 for permits to allow them to convert 20 existing static billboards to digital. The city of Lexington denied the request, citing regulations against digital signs that are not on the premises of a business, according to the lawsuit. The city had looked at the digital sign issue since 2018, but had not passed an ordinance allowing digital billboards. Other Kentucky counties, including Jessamine County, allow electronic billboards.

The Murray Ledger &Times reports that U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves ruled this week that Lexington’s current ban on electronic billboards was constitutional and that it was “a valid content neutral regulation of speech.”

Lamar, which estimates it has one hundred billboards in the county, has been alleging the city’s ban on electronic billboards violated the First Amendment among other claims. City lawyers argued the city had a right to limit electronic messaging boards because of public safety concerns — the billboards could be distracting to drivers.

It was not clear if Lamar will appeal this weeks decision which would next go to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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