Newspaper thrown into yard against my wishes.

[rechmbrs]

What is the name of your state?Texas

What do I have to do to get the local newspaper to stop delivering their paper to me? I no longer subscribe it. They deliver to neighbors also without them being subscribed. I have contacted them many times but nothing works. Been told it is not littering but they are violating my property rights.

RONC

 

[quincy]

Write a “letter to the editor” (possibly co-signed by your neighbor) complaining about the paper’s practice of delivering unsolicited and unwanted papers to your house. Mention the littering of your property. Make the letter civil in tone.

 

[rechmbrs]

I really appreciate your response.

I have civilly talked with the editor about a year ago and had his promise of no more papers but one was delivered the very next day and at least weekly since. I'm told that littering means the person tossing the item away has to no longer value the item.

RONC

 

[Taxing Matters]

I have civilly talked with the editor about a year ago and had his promise of no more papers but one was delivered the very next day and at least weekly since. I'm told that littering means the person tossing the item away has to no longer value the item.

Tossing unwanted items on your property is a form of trespass to property. Try having an attorney write a letter to the chief executive of the newspaper pointing this out and that if the newspaper continues to toss the unwanted papers on your property you will sue for damages and/or injunction. My bet is that a lawyer letter will get their attention. You might have your neighbors join in this effort. If that still doesn't work, then follow through and sue.

 

[rechmbrs]

Thanks.

So it is trespass not litter that I need to address. I will have to find an attorney then. The newspaper is a Hearst owned paper. I tried them a couple years ago and got the run around.

Very helpful,

RONC

 

[quincy]

Thanks.

So it is trespass not litter that I need to address. I will have to find an attorney then. The newspaper is a Hearst owned paper. I tried them a couple years ago and got the run around.

Very helpful,

RONC

There was a case heard (in some state, at some time ) about unwanted newspaper deliveries and the newspaper won the case. It was not considered littering or trespassing, if my memory serves me - and it doesn’t always serve me well. Haha.

I know I spoke of the case before on this forum. I will see if I can locate a link to it - although if not a Texas case, it will have little relevance.

 

[quincy]

There have been cases heard in several states over the same issue you are having. Last year, a judge in a court in New York, in dismissing the case against Post-Star’s publisher over complaints of littering, stated that freedom of the press includes the right to disseminate the news even when the news is disseminated through the tossing of papers on people’s property. It is not littering

The first link I came across was an article from New York’s Post-Star, a newspaper whose littering case against it was dismissed on constitutional grounds:
https://poststar.com/news/local/littering-case-dismissed-against-post-star-publisher/article_b4ae2240-77c8-5d4f-8126-6ce700995e74.html?utm_campaign=user-share&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email

But then, here is another case out of New York from 1996 (Kenneth Tilman v. Distribution Systems of America), where the distributor was enjoined from delivering to Tilman: https://annarborchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NewspapersTilmanVDSA.pdf

I suggest you find out who is distributing the papers and complain to them, in addition to the paper.

 

[adjusterjack]

There was a case heard (in some state, at some time ) about unwanted newspaper deliveries and the newspaper won the case. It was not considered littering or trespassing

The reverse appears to be true. In a NY case the appellate court ruled that unwanted newspaper deliveries were, indeed, trespass.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15137558588563629053&q=unwanted+newspaper+delivery&hl=en&as_sdt=ffffffffffffe04

The first link I came across was an article from New York’s Post-Star, a newspaper whose littering case against it was dismissed on constitutional grounds:
https://poststar.com/news/local/littering-case-dismissed-against-post-star-publisher/article_b4ae2240-77c8-5d4f-8126-6ce700995e74.html?utm_campaign=user-share&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email

The "littering" thing is a different story. Criminal charges for littering were dismissed.

The Tillman case is about trespass.

Interestingly enough, the same periodical "The Week" was involved in both cases.

 

[quincy]

I was editing my post to include the Tilman case. It cites several other cases.

Littering, it is not. Trespass, it could be.


(People are so quick to quote here that I really need to do my editing prior to posting first ).

 

[Taxing Matters]

There have been cases heard in several states over the same issue you are having. Last year, a judge in a court in New York, in dismissing the case against Post-Star’s publisher over complaints of littering, stated that freedom of the press includes the right to disseminate the news even when the news is disseminated through the tossing of papers on people’s property. It is not littering....

But then, here is another case out of New York from 1996 (Kenneth Tilman v. Distribution Systems of America), where the distributor was enjoined from delivering to Tilman: https://annarborchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NewspapersTilmanVDSA.pdf

The difference is that in the former the town was seeking to enforce its ban on littering. As that is an action by the town the First Amendment must be considered and the courts found that the publisher's First Amendment rights were, under the facts provided, infringed by the town's enforcement of its littering law.

In the latter, it is the homeowner bringing suit to stop the trespass and littering on his property. The First Amendment affords no protection against the restriction of speech by private persons unless those persons are acting at the time in a government like capacity. In this case, the Court explained the difference between the two:

The most critical and fundamental distinction between the cases cited above, on the one hand, and the present case, on the other, is based on the fact that here we are not dealing with a government agency which seeks to preempt in some way the ability of a publisher to contact a potential reader; rather, we are dealing with a reader who is familiar with a publisher's product, and who is attempting to prevent the unwanted dumping of this product on his property. None of the cases cited by the defendants stands for the proposition that the Free Speech Clause prohibits such a landowner from resorting to his common-law remedies in order to prevent such unwanted dumping. There is, in our view, nothing in either the Federal or State Constitutions which requires a landowner to tolerate a trespass whenever the trespasser is a speaker, or the distributor of written speech, who is unsatisfied with the fora which may be available on public property, and who thus attempts to carry his message to private property against the will of the owner (see, Lloyd Corp. v Tanner, 407 U.S. 551).​

​

Note that the court refers to the dropping of the paper on the property as trespass and states the homeowner need not tolerate it. That is exactly the principle I invoked in my previous response.

 

[quincy]

It would not be criminal trespass but the distributor/publisher could be enjoined from delivery of the paper to rechmbrs’ property.

If rechmbrs has had no success in getting the deliveries stopped by contacting in writing the publisher/distributor, an attorney letter is a good next step to take. Edit to add: Many if not most deliveries are made by independent contractors and not by the publishers.

 

[adjusterjack]

(People are so quick to quote here that I really need to do my editing prior to posting first ).

I get that a lot. I write a few paragraphs and when I push the button find that somebody beat me to it by seconds.

 

[quincy]

I get that a lot. I write a few paragraphs and when I push the button find that somebody beat me to it by seconds.

I don’t mind someone posting the same or similar thing at the same time I do (I think a record was broken not long ago when four of us posted the same thing at the exact same time) but I am used to going back to what I write and doing some editing. With quick-quotes I find I don’t have that luxury. Any errors I have made are already nicely preserved. Haha.

 

[bcr229]

Ask your neighbors if any of them keep birds or reptiles, and let them know you have clean newspaper for lining cages.

 

[HighwayMan]

While I agree it's somewhat annoying, it's probably much easier and less stressful to just pickup the paper and toss it in the recycle bin,