Galleria Mall's requirement to file a written request 4 days before chatting with strangers is unconstitutional.
The Westfield Galleria Shopping Mall's policy barring people from approaching strangers to chitchat without filing a written request to the mall 4 days in advance has been found unconstitutional by a California appeals court. The court said that the rules would prohibit people from talking about the weather or offering directions to strangers.
The mall prohibited individuals in its common areas from approaching people they didn't know to talk unless the conversation was about business involving the mall or its tenants. The case arose after mall officials issued a citizen's arrest of Matthew Snatchko, 27, a youth pastor who tried to talk to others at the mall about his Christian faith.
A store employee called security when Snatchko approached three young women who agreed to talk with him. When he refused to leave the mall, Snatchko was handcuffed and turned over to Roseville police.
The Galleria's senior general manager acknowledged in court that if a patron wanted to ask a stranger which team he was supporting in an upcoming Super Bowl game, he would need to fill out the application in advance.
Writing on behalf of the unanimous appellate panel in Snatchko v. Westfield LLC, Associate Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye concluded that the rules barred peaceful, consensual, spontaneous conversations between strangers in common areas of the mall on topics unrelated to the mall. The rules therefore violated the California Constitution's free-speech guarantee.
Read factlets by:
RSS feed
Email feed
