We previously reported on the case of Planet Aid v. City of St. Johns, Michigan, Docket No. 1:14-cv-00149 (W.D. Mich. 2014), in which Planet Aid sued the City of St. Johns over the enactment of an ordinance banning donation bins throughout the City.  Prior to the enactment of the ordinance, Planet Aid would sell items it collected through donation bins (clothing, shoes, and textiles) to fund development programs in impoverished communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.  While Planet Aid awaits a ruling on its motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in that case, it has obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order in a lawsuit against Ypsilanti Township, Michigan – Planet Aid v. Ypsilanti Township, Docket No. 14-cv-11472 (E.D. Mich. 2014) – that it brought after filing suit against St. Johns for a similar donation bin prohibition.

For the past 7 years, Planet Aid has placed 16 donation bins throughout the Township at various sites.  According to Planet Aid, all of its bins were “clearly labeled, standalone donation bins” that were placed with the consent of the property owner.  Because the Township believed there were too many bins within its borders, its Community Ordinance Officer informed Planet Aid, as well as all bin operators and bin hosts throughout the Township, to remove their bins within 30 days.  According to Planet Aid, it was not provided with notice or afforded an opportunity for a hearing.  Allegedly, the Township has not provided an explanation for its position and, through counsel, “has been aggressively harassing property owners, advising them [that] they will face civil sanctions should they allow Planet Aid bins on their property.”

In granting Planet Aid’s motion for an ex parte temporary restraining order, the District Court found that Planet Aid was likely to succeed on the merits of its First Amendment free speech claim.  Based on the Sixth Circuit’s conclusion that solicitations to pay or contribute money are entitled to First Amendment protection, the District Court found that “this protection extends to donations for goods which will then be converted to donations of money.”  Daytona Area Visually Impaired Persons, Inc. v. Fisher 70 F.3d 1474, 1481 (6th Cir. 1995).  The Court observed that “the Township’s restriction to ban all of [Planet Aid’s] bin placement in the Township is not narrowly tailored to achieve its interest in that there are likely less restrictive ways to reach Defendant’s goal.”  The District Court enjoined and restrained the Township from removing Planet Aid’s donation bins, whether acting alone or in concert with others.

The District Court’s order granting the ex parte temporary restraining order in Planet Aid v. Ypsilanti Township, Docket No. 14-cv-11472 (E.D. Mich. 2014), can be accessed here.

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Photo of Evan Seeman Evan Seeman

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of…

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of an amicus curiae brief at the petition stage before the United States Supreme Court in a RLUIPA case entitled City of San Leandro v. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

Evan serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the APA’s Planning & Law Division. He also serves as the Chair of the Planning & Zoning Section of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, and is the former Co-Chair of its Municipal Law Section. He has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list as a Rising Star in the area of Land Use Law for 2013 and 2014. He received his B.A. in political science and Russian studies (with honors) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was selected as the President’s Fellow in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Evan received his Juris Doctor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the Connecticut Law Review. While in law school, he interned with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General in the environmental department, and served as a judicial intern for the judges of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. Following law school, Evan clerked for the Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel of the Connecticut Appellate Court.

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Photo of Dwight Merriam Dwight Merriam

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of…

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a former Director of the American Planning Association (APA), a former chair of APA’s Planning and Law Division, Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law, Chair of the Institute of Local Government Studies at the Center for American and International Law, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute National Advisory Board, a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

He teaches land use law at the University of Connecticut School of Law and at Vermont Law School and has published over 200 articles and eight books, including Inclusionary Zoning Moves Downtown, The Takings Issue, The Complete Guide to Zoning, and Eminent Domain Use and Abuse: Kelo in Context. He is the senior co-author of the leading casebook on land use law, Planning and Control of Land Development (Eighth Edition). Dwight has written and spoken widely on how to avoid RLUIPA claims and how to successfully defend against them in court. He is currently writing a book on the subject, RLUIPA DEFENSE, for the American Bar Association.

Dwight has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list in the area of Land Use Law since 2006, is one of the Top 50 Connecticut Super Lawyers in Connecticut, and is one of the Top 100 New England Super Lawyers (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.). He received his B.A. (cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts, his Masters of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, where he was the graduation speaker in 2011, and his J.D. from Yale. He is a featured speaker at many land use seminars, and presents monthly audio land use seminars for the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Dwight has been cited in the national press from The New York Times to People magazine and has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, MSNBC and public television.

Dwight also had a career in the Navy, serving for three tours in Vietnam aboard ship, then returning to be the Senior Advisor of the Naval ROTC Unit at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he taught Defense Administration and Military Management as an Assistant Professor in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum in Defense Administration and Military Management. He left active duty after seven years to attend law school, but continued on for 24 more years as a reserve Surface Warfare Officer with two major commands, including that of the reserve commanding officer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. He retired as a Captain in 2009 after 31 years of service.

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