Judge Rules LA Metro Must Pay PETA More Than $250,000 in First Amendment Lawsuit

For Immediate Release:
June 20, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Ruling in a case filed by PETA in response to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (LA Metro) bias against its animal rights ads, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California just ordered the transit agency to pay the group $250,815, plus interest, to cover the cost of litigating its ultimately successful First Amendment lawsuit.

PETA asserted that LA Metro unlawfully rejected its ads featuring a simple plea to show kindness to animals by eating and shopping vegan (with no graphic imagery). The lawsuit took aim at LA Metro’s prohibition on ads for noncommercial speech—unless the ad was sponsored by a government agency. The court deemed this and other aspects of LA Metro’s policy “unreasonable,” “unconstitutional,” and “viewpoint-discriminatory” and issued an injunction to prevent the transit agency from enforcing these unconstitutional parts. The injunction prompted LA Metro to revise its policy to, among other things, remove the government agency exception, and it then filed a motion to vacate the injunction. The district court denied LA Metro’s request.

“The court agreed that PETA’s efforts to encourage commuters to see animals as someone, notsomething, were unconstitutionally quashed by LA Metro,” says PETA Foundation Director of Litigation Asher Smith. “This ruling is a win against injustice and a warning to public officials that there are serious consequences for discriminating against animal rights advocates.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.