SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Months after a federal lawsuit prompted Savannah to revise a local law regulating guided tours, Dan Leger remains determined to press ahead with the case in court.
“Until they quit licensing my free speech, I won’t be satisfied,” said Leger, a tour guide who does business under the name Savannah Dan.
Leger and three others sued the city last fall over a 1978 ordinance that requires tour guides to obtain a license that requires passing a test on history and architecture. The tour guides argue Savannah is violating their First Amendment rights by deciding who’s qualified to tell visitors about Georgia’s oldest city. City Hall insists it has a duty to keep uninformed tour guides from tarnishing Savannah’s $2.3 billion tourism economy.
It appears a U.S. District Court judge will ultimately have to decide the issue. Attorneys on both sides met earlier this month after being ordered to discuss settling out of court. In a March 12 status report to the judge, lawyers for the tour guides and City Hall agreed they’re so divided that “settlement negotiations are unlikely to continue.”
Federal courts have recently decided similar lawsuits filed in two other U.S. cities. In Washington, D.C., an appellate court threw out licensing rules for tour guides. But a different appeals court declared similar rules in New Orleans don’t infringe on the rights of tour guides. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case last month.