Deans v. Las Vegas Clark County Library District

Our client, William Deans, was gathering signatures for a state ballot initiative in Las Vegas, Nevada shortly before the 2016 election. He did so outside the entrance of a public library. Despite not causing any disruption, library employees told him to leave, claiming he could only gather signatures in a designated “free speech” zone far away from the entrance, and that he had to register with the library before gathering signatures. When Deans insisted he had a constitutional right to gather signatures, the library called the police on him and trespassed him from all Clark County public libraries for an entire year.

Deans then hired us, and we filed a complaint for violation of his constitutional free speech and due process rights against the library district. We also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order requesting that Deans be allowed to continue gathering signatures, which the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted. After a lengthy hearing, the court granted a preliminary injunction permitting Deans to continue his petitioning activity, so long as he did so a reasonable distance from the library entrance so as not to obstruct any library patrons.

Rather than accept their loss, the library district continued to fight the case, resulting in Deans winning a motion for summary judgment on almost all his claims, with the court finding that the district’s policies about petitioning activity were unconstitutional. Finally seeing the writing on the wall, the library district settled with Deans for $150,000.