BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY v. MACERICH WESTSIDE PAVILION PROPERTY LLC














Filed 3/2/11






CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. MACERICH WESTSIDE PAVILION PROPERTY LLC, Defendant and Respondent.

B221067 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. SC104061)

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County.
Linda K. Lefkowitz, Judge. Reversed.

Browne Woods George, Eric M. George and Ira Bibbero for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Katten Muchin Rosenman, Thomas J. Leanse, Stacey McKee Knight and Janella T. Gholian for Defendant and Respondent.

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The question presented is whether article I, section 2 of the California Constitution permits a privately owned shopping mall to enforce rules that give preferential treatment to labor speech and thereby discriminate against other types of speech. The answer is no. We therefore reverse the trial court's order denying the motion for preliminary injunction filed by Best Friends Animal Society (Best Friends) against Macerich Westside Pavilion Property LLC (Macerich), the owner of the Westside Pavilion Shopping Center (Westside Pavilion).
FACTS
Westside Pavilion is a large shopping mall comprised of an original building and a new building. Macerich regulates the use of the common areas of Westside Pavilion with rules (WP Rules).
In particular, the WP Rules apply to noncommercial expressive activity such as political and religious speech, the request for signatures on petitions, the registration of voters and the dissemination of noncommercial leaflets or flyers. In addition, they apply to qualified labor activity, which is defined to mean â€