[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township
of Robinson 1-14-1980 by Ord. No. 2-1980 (Ch. 6, Part 1, of
the 1989 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Having knowledge of the contents and character or the patently
offensive sexual conduct or other content which appears in the motion-picture
film, publication or live theater production or knowledge of the acts
of obscenity, assignation or prostitution which occur in any place.
Any dramatic, musical or comedic production performed in
the presence of a live audience.
Any method of treating the superficial soft parts of the
human body for remedial, hygienic or other purposes, consisting of
rubbing, stroking, kneading or any similar treatment, accomplished
by hand or by the use of any instrument.[1]
Any building or structure or portion thereof located with
the Township which is open to members of the general public, with
or without the payment of a fee, at which massage services are offered.
A motion-picture film, live theater production, publication,
or all three.
Any place where there is conducted the business of furnishing
figure models who pose in the nude for the purpose of being observed
or viewed by any person or of being sketched, painted, drawn, sculpted,
photographed or otherwise similarly depicted for persons who pay a
fee or other consideration or compensation or a gratuity.
Any place where there is conducted the business of furnishing
or providing or procuring, for a fee or other consideration or compensation
or gratuity, figure models who pose nude to be observed or viewed
by any person to be sketched, painted, drawn, sculpted, photographed
or otherwise similarly depicted.
Exception. The term "model studio" does not include:
Any studio which is operated by any state college or junior
college, public or private school, or any governmental agency wherein
the person, firm, association, partnership or corporation so operating
has met the requirements established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
for the issuance or conferring of, and is in fact authorized thereunder
to issue and confer, a diploma or honorary diploma; or
Any place where there is conducted the business of furnishing, providing or procuring figure models solely for any studio described in Subsection A of this definition.
Shall include any:
Film or plate negative;
Film or plate positive;
Film designed to be projected on a screen for exhibition;
Films, glass slides or transparencies, either in negative or
positive form, designed for exhibition by projection on a screen;
or
Videotape or any other medium used to electronically reproduce
images on a screen.
Shall include:
Completely without clothing; or
With the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks
with less than a fully opaque covering or the showing of the female
breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any portion thereof
below the top of the nipple, or the covered male genitals in a discernibly
turgid state.
Any matter which:
Any individual, partnership, firm, association, corporation
or other legal entity.
Includes, but is not limited to, any building, structure
or space or any separate part or portion thereof, whether permanent
or not, or the ground itself.
Any book, magazine, article, pamphlet, writing, printing,
illustration, picture, sound recording or a motion-picture film which
is displayed in an area open to the public, offered for sale or exhibited
in a coin-operated machine.
A passing of title or right of possession from a seller to
a buyer for valuable consideration, and shall include, but is not
limited to, any lease or rental arrangement or other transaction wherein
any valuable consideration is received for the use of or transfer
of possession of obscene matter.
A.Â
Any and every place in the Township where obscene motion-picture
films or live theater productions are publicly exhibited or possessed
for the purpose of such exhibition, and any and every place in the
Township where obscene publications are publicly disseminated or sold
or possessed for the purpose of such dissemination, is a public nuisance.
B.Â
Any and every obscene motion-picture film or live theater production
which is publicly exhibited, and any and every obscene publication
which is publicly displayed, disseminated or sold or possessed for
such purpose, is a public nuisance per se.
C.Â
From and after every service on the place or its manager or acting
manager or person then in charge of such place of a true and correct
copy of this chapter and a true and correct copy of the summons and
complaint to abate a nuisance, all monies paid thereafter as admission
price to such exhibitions or productions or the purchase price of
such publications are also declared to be a public nuisance, as personal
property used in conducting and maintaining a declared public nuisance.
A.Â
Every massage parlor or model studio which as a regular course of
business is used for the purpose of obscenity, assignation or prostitution,
and every such massage parlor or model studio in or upon which acts
of obscenity, assignation or prostitution are held or occur, is a
public nuisance which shall be enjoined, abated and prevented.
B.Â
From and after service on the place or its manager or acting manager
or person then in charge of such place of a true and correct copy
of this chapter and a true and correct copy of the summons and complaint
to abate a nuisance, all monies or other valuable consideration paid
for services rendered to customers are also declared to be a public
nuisance, as personal property used in conducting and maintaining
a declared public nuisance.
A.Â
Upon and after receiving notice through service of a true and correct copy of this chapter and a true and correct copy of the summons and complaint to abate a nuisance, or notice by the Township Solicitor of the character of the obscene film, production, publication or place, any and every person who shall own, legally or equitably, lease, maintain, manage, conduct or operate a place in the Township which is declared to be a public nuisance as set forth and stated in §§ 195-2 and 195-3 of this chapter is deemed to be a person who has knowledge of such nuisance for the purpose of this chapter and may, thereafter, be responsible for its maintenance and liable therefor.
[Amended 8-14-1989 by Ord. No. 16-1989]
A.Â
The Township Solicitor or any citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
resident within the Township may maintain an action of equitable nature
in the name of the Township upon the relation of such Township Solicitor
or citizen of notice to abate a nuisance.
B.Â
No bond shall be required of the Township Solicitor. If such action
is instituted by a private citizen, a bond shall be required in an
amount, as established from time to time by resolution, to secure
to the defendants the proximate damages which may be sustained, including
attorney's fees, if any court finds that there were no reasonable
grounds for said action.
C.Â
The Township Solicitor shall have the right to present arguments
and authorities on behalf of either party.
A.Â
Money damages may be recovered.
(1)Â
For compensation for loss or harm suffered in person or property
by the Township or private citizen flowing from such nuisance; and
(2)Â
As exemplary or punitive damages for the sake of example or to punish
the offender, where it is shown that the offender has been guilty
of malice. Malice means an intent to do a wrongful act, that is, an
intent to maintain, permit or allow a nuisance to exist.
B.Â
Preliminary and permanent injunctions may be issued to prevent the
further maintenance of a nuisance and to prevent the further sale
or exhibition of obscene motion-picture films, live theater productions
and publications. The procedures for obtaining such injunctions shall
be governed by the rules of civil procedure, preserving the right
of trial by jury upon the application for permanent injunction.
(1)Â
Upon the application for preliminary injunction, the court shall
set the matter for a hearing no earlier than two days and no later
than five days from the date of service of the summons and complaint.
(2)Â
Upon the trial on the merits of the permanent injunction, if the
court finds a place to be a nuisance the court may issue an order
closing the place to all users and purposes for the period of one
year. If the offenders or persons owning, in control or in charge
of such place certify that the nuisance has been abated and that the
films, productions or publications found to be obscene shall not be
exhibited, sold or otherwise disseminated and, at the discretion of
the court, post a bond in an amount not to exceed the value of the
personal property possessed or contained at such place for the maintenance
of the nuisance, the court may release such person or persons from
the closure order. The release shall remain in effect for one year
or until the nuisance is found to exist at the place before the expiration
of one year. The bond shall be deposited with the court prior to the
release of any closure order and shall be returned to the person posting
said bond, without interest, at the expiration of one year, provided
that the nuisance is not maintained or reestablished within that year.
A.Â
If the existence of the nuisance is established on the trial, a judgment
shall be entered which shall permanently enjoin the defendants and
any other person with notice or knowledge of the action and judgment
from maintaining the nuisance at said place and the defendants from
maintaining such nuisance elsewhere, and the entire expenses of such
abatement action shall be recovered by the plaintiff as part of his
costs.
B.Â
Cost of abatement.
(1)Â
The cost of abatement shall include the following:
(2)Â
Such cost of abatement may be made a special assessment against the
place or the parcel of land upon which such place is located. Upon
its determination in a civil action, such shall by separate legal
proceeding be made a lien against such property and a personal obligation
against any person and shall be collected at the same time and in
the same manner as ordinary Township taxes are collected and shall
be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in
the case of delinquency as provided for ordinary municipal taxes.
All laws applicable at the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal
taxes shall be applicable to such special assessment.
C.Â
Upon judgment for the plaintiff in legal proceedings brought pursuant to this chapter, an accounting shall be made by such defendant or defendants of all monies or valuable consideration received by them which have been declared to be a public nuisance under §§ 195-2 or 195-3 of this chapter. Such monies or their equivalent and any valuable consideration received shall be forfeited to the general fund of the Township or to the Township as property of the Township if any valuable consideration received be not money.
