This column reports on several significant representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein granted a company’s application for a preliminary injunction restraining the Village of East Rockaway from placing certain restrictions on door-to-door solicitation. Judge Pamela C. Chen dismissed copyright claims because of plaintiffs’ failure to meet the Copyright Act’s registration requirements. And Judge Nina Gershon granted class certification to diabetic New York City public school students seeking injunctive relief relating to an alleged failure by the City Department of Education to provide adequate medical care.

Commercial Speech Rights—Door-to-Door Solicitation

In Aptive Environmental v. Village of East Rockaway, 19 CV 3365 (EDNY, July 16, 2019), Judge Feuerstein granted a preliminary injunction restraining defendant from enforcing provisions of its Village Code that impose a solicitation curfew, a bond requirement and other restrictions on door-to-door commercial solicitation. Plaintiff is a residential pest control company, selling its services almost exclusively by soliciting door-to-door. According to a branch manager in Long Island, its “unique business model is predicated upon establishing a personal and trusting relationship with its customers” so it can “customize its services” to their homes and individual needs.