New York, NY - Billboard Company Sues City Over Sign Restrictions

New York, NY - A billboard company is suing the city because of a law that restricts private outdoor advertising near parks and highways while exempting the city's own commercial signs is illegal.

The lawsuit, filed by OTR Media Group Inc. in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, says the law imposes an illegal restraint on trade and violates the company's rights to equal protection and free speech.
The OTR lawsuit attacks Local Law 31, passed in 2005 by the City Council and signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. OTR's papers say the law creates permit requirements for commercial advertising signs that impose a practical ban on all new privately owned signs and threaten many existing ones.