MORGANTOWN — A proposed settlement regarding a since-repealed city panhandling ordinance continues to move through the legal process.
Legal advocacy nonprofit Mountain State Justice filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Anthony Rowand against the city of Morgantown in U.S. District Court on April 22, 2024 claiming Rowand was ticketed and assessed fines nine times based on an unconstitutional panhandling ordinance.
Upon advice from legal counsel, Morgantown City Council began the process of repealing the law about two weeks later.
In early February, a bodycam video of an October 2024 interaction between Rowand and a Morgantown Police officer showed up on Facebook.
In the video, shot at the intersection of Grafton Road and 4-H Camp Road, Rowand tells the officer he’s been waiting to receive a ticket, claiming “My lawyer said I’ve got to get a couple of them.”
At the time, a representative of Mountain State Justice told The Dominion Post that nobody with the organization advised any client to engage in unlawful activity and they weren’t sure why Rowand made those statements.
Roughly two weeks after the video went public, court filings showed Rowand and the city had agreed to terms of a proposed settlement that would see $10,000 in damages go to Rowand as well as $100 as the sole class member identified as having paid fines or costs under the ordinance. Mountain State Justice will receive $25,000 for its work on the case, if ultimately approved.
The city is currently fulfilling another of the settlement’s stipulations by running legal advertisements in every printed weekday edition of this newspaper – including Friday’s edition (PAGE B-7) – between Sept. 12 and Oct. 7.
Shortly after the final legal ad is published, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Thomas Kleeh will conduct a hearing to determine the fairness of the settlement and ultimately accept or deny it.
The stricken law at the heart of the matter – City Code Section 371.10 – first went on the city’s books in July 2005.
It prohibited asking for money or other objects of value by any means with the intention of the money or objects being transferred from an occupant of a vehicle within a public roadway at that time and place. It also outlawed standing in any portion of a public right of way to solicit business, goods or money.
Mountain State Justice said the law violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because it was content-based, meaning it only applied to individuals exercising a specific kind of speech – the solicitation of money, property or business – and not, for example, those supporting a political cause or passing out religious literature.
The published advertisement notes that anyone previously charged under the ordinance will have those convictions vacated with no action required on the part of the convicted. Any fines and court costs paid will be reimbursed.
According to the terms of the proposed settlement, the city is not aware of anyone other than Rowand to be ticketed under the ordinance.
The settlement does not prevent anyone subject to enforcement of the ordinance between April 22, 2022 and May 21, 2024 from bringing claims. If represented by Mountain State Justice, the firm must notify the city at least 30 days before filing a lawsuit and take part in good faith negotiations with the city before filing.
While this suit appears to be winding down, another local “panhandling” lawsuit is just ramping up.
Mountain State Justice is also suing Monongalia County Commissioners Tom Bloom, Sean Sikora and Jeff Arnett, as well as Sheriff Todd Forbes, over the Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety Ordinance passed by the commission in October 2023.
The suit claims the law violates the First Amendment by outlawing activity in public areas where protected activities were common before its passage. Further, it states the law is rooted in an effort to eliminate panhandling.
The county intends to argue the point in court, noting that regardless of what words were used prior to the law’s passage, the law on the books is content neutral and prohibits all activity from taking place in a right of way.
According to court documents, that suit is scheduled for a bench trial before Kleeh starting Aug. 17, 2026.
