Ariosta et al v. Fallbrook Union High School District et al

Filing 40

ORDER Denying as Moot 12 Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Signed by Judge M. James Lorenz on 6/29/2009. (mjj) (jrl).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CHANTAL ARIOSTA, et al., 12 13 v. 14 FALLBROOK UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiffs, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Civil No. 08cv2421-L(AJB) ORDER DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

This action is based on alleged violation by school officials of students' and a student

18 advisor's First Amendment and other rights. Three of the Plaintiffs filed a motion for a 19 preliminary injunction. For the reasons which follow, the motion is DENIED AS MOOT. 20 As relevant Plaintiffs' motion, the action arises out of two incidents related to The

21 Tomahawk, a newspaper published by the journalism class at Fallbrook High School ("FHS"). 22 In one incident a then- senior journalism class student, Plaintiff Chantal Ariosta ("Arisota"), 23 wrote an article regarding the alleged refusal of former Fallbrook Union High School District 24 ("FUHSD") Superintendent Tom Anthony to comply with a request from the fire marshal to 25 close the school for use as an evacuation center during the wildfires of October 2007, and the 26 FUHSD's subsequent buyout of the Superintendent's contract. (First Am. Compl. at 3.) 27 Defendant Rod King ("King"), the FHS principal, ordered the article removed in its entirety 28 from the newspaper. (Id. at 3-4). In the second incident another then-senior student, Plaintiff
08cv2421

1 Margaret Dupes ("Dupes"), wrote an editorial, which was a critique of the Bush 2 Administration's abstinence-only policy of sex education and a response to an assembly 3 sponsored by FHS promoting abstinence-only sex education which was held earlier in the school 4 year. Plaintiff Daniela Rogulj ("Rogulj"), a student and Opinion Page Editor collaborated on the 5 editorial with Dupes and edited it. King caused the editorial to be removed from the newspaper. 6 (Id. at 4.) 7 Ariosta, Dupes and Rogulj moved for a preliminary injunction "prohibiting Defendants

8 from continuing to impose a prior restraint on publication of the Article and Editorial at issue in 9 Plaintiff's complaint." (Pls' Notice of Mot. and Mot. at 2.) On March 25, 2009 Defendants 10 published the article and editorial in The Tomahawk. (Supp. Decl. of Dale J. Mitchell dated 11 Mar. 26, 2009 & Ex. A.) Plaintiffs acknowledge that the publication moots their motion. (Reply 12 at 1 ("Defendants' new position might make it unnecessary for this Court to issue an 13 injunction.").) Plaintiffs do not contend that the article and editorial, as published, were 14 censored in any way. 15 Based on the foregoing, Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is DENIED AS

16 MOOT. 17 18 19 DATED: June 29, 2009 20 21 22 COPY TO: M. James Lorenz United States District Court Judge IT IS SO ORDERED.

HON. ANTHONY J. BATTAGLIA 23 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 ALL PARTIES/COUNSEL 25 26 27 28
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