II. Shopping Centers & Organizations

Definitions ................................................................... 1-2

Definitions .................................................................. 2

Regional Shopping Centers ............................................... 2-3

Pruneyard v. Robins ...................................................... 4-5

NJ Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty .... 5-6

Industry Reaction ......................................................... 7-9

Litigation ................................................................... 9

VIII. Conclusion .......................................................................... 9-10

Is an individual's right to freedom of speech, as granted by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, valid on private property, which is owned by someone else? Specifically, can an organization not associated with a shopping center use the shopping center's property to promote their cause? The U.S. Supreme Court has le

The shopping center industry is left waiting for the next lawsuit to be filed regarding freedom of speech. The outcome of the suit will depend on the state's constitution where the suit is filed. If the shopping center loses and every mall in that state is forced to allow demonstrations, I would guarantee an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Will the Supreme Court hear the case? It's doubtful, based on previous court decisions. Potential new litigation to come from California, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Massachusetts might raise the question of whether a shopping center needs to subsidize demonstrations on mall property. Since the insurance policy the mall requires primarily benefits the mall, shouldn't the mall pay for it and not the demonstrators? Might the mall be required to pay for other items that the demonstrators can't afford, like signs? As a certified shopping center manager with over ten years of experience and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, I am troubled by the rising legal costs of doing business. (Cesare 1) The general public is invited into shopping centers to spend their money on food, apparel and/or entertainment. Newspapers are not forced to print editorials, shopping centers should not be forced to allow someone access to its valuable commodity, customers, without some type of reimbursement

Today's shopping centers provide social and political organizations an ideal place to interact with thousands of people on a daily basis. Shopping centers spend a great deal of money to entice people to come to the mall. For example, during the two weeks preceding the grand opening of Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas, the owners of the shopping center spent approximately $2 million on advertising to draw an anticipated 50,000 shoppers during their opening weekend. The shopping centers have a contractual obligation to advertise the center on behalf of its merchants. Organizations, rightfully so, see the shopping center as one-stop destination. They can reach the largest amount of people in the quickest and most economical fashion by going to the mall. For example, during a non-holiday week, traffic at The Parks at Arlington Mall averaged 55,000 customers, at Six Flags Mall 32,000 and at Festival Marketplace Mall 25,000, approximately. During the Christmas Season, which runs from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years Day, traffic will usually triple and sometimes quadruple.

In order to understand how the courts' decisions affect the shopping center industry, we must first understand what a shopping center is and who the organizations are. As referred to in the two most notable court cases, Pruneyard v. Robins ("Pruneyard") and NJ Coalition Against War in the Middle East et al. v. J.M.B. Realty Corp. et al. ("JMB"), a [regional] shopping center is defined as one that is between 300,000 square feet and 1,000,000 square feet in size and includes at least one large, over 100,000 square feet department store. During the 1990's, regional shopping centers have given way to super regional shopping centers. Super regional shopping centers are over 1,000,000 square feet in size and usually have four or more large department stores. For comparison in Arlington, Texas, The Parks at Arlington Mall and Six Flags Mall would be considered super regional malls while Festival Marketplace Mall would be considered a regional mall. The organizations that were involved in Pruneyard and JMB consisted of peaceful political activists who were protesting Zionism and the Gulf War, respectively. As far as a shopping center is concerned, anyone not associated with operating the center i.e., employees, contractors, etc., or retailers/merchants would be considered a potential customer or part of an organization, depending on if their reason for coming to the mall was to shop. The shopping center, of course, wants everyone to be a customer since their primary business

Some common words found in the essay are:
Supreme Court, Marketplace Mall, Colorado Massachusetts, Shopping Centers, Easter Bunny, Gulf War, Research Bureau, Amendment Constitution, Post Office, Realty Corp, shopping center, shopping centers, supreme court, regional shopping, freedom speech, regional shopping centers, et al, april 2000, free speech, center industry, shopping center industry, jersey supreme court, et al jmb, coalition war, coalition war middle,
Approximate Word count = 3223
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)