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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
WATCHTOWER BIBLE TRACTSOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC., et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
MUNICIPALITY OF SANTA ISABEL, etal., Defendants.
Civil No. 04-1452 (GAG)
AMENDED PARTIAL JUDGMENT AS TO UNMANNED URBANIZATIONS
Pursuant to the final disposition hearing held yesterday, March 20, 2013, the court hereby
orders the following:
1) All municipal defendants shall collect and deliver to Plaintiffs a means of access to
all unmanned urbanizations located within their municipality. Depending on the
means of access, each urbanization shall deliver to Plaintiffs a physical key, an
access code, beeper, or other device necessary to permit entry to the urbanization.
The means of access provided to Plaintiffs must be equal to that of the residents of
those urbanizations and must grant Plaintiffs unfettered access to the urbanizations,
i.e., without restrictions.1
The court notes Plaintiffs object to this order on the basis that it may create an1
Establishment Clause violation by treating Jehovah’s Witnesses differently and more preferentiallythan other religious entities. Plaintiffs are correct in arguing the Establishment Clause bars thegovernment from promoting any particular religion over another, or generally, religious beliefs overnon-religious beliefs. See Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock, 489 U.S. 1, 8-9 (1989). The courtclarifies and states for the record that Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs did not alter the outcome of thecase. In the course of adjudicating Plaintiffs’ claims, the court must necessarily fashion a remedythat balances Plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to religious speech and expression with the PuertoRico government’s right to protect its citizens. No other religious entities were a party to this action. Had other similarly situated religious groups joined Plaintiffs in these claims, they would haveprobably benefitted from the same remedies.
Case 3:04-cv-01452-GAG Document 978 Filed 03/21/13 Page 1 of 3
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Civil No. 04-1452 (GAG) 2
2) Defendants must provide the stated means of access to Plaintiffs no later than April
17, 2013. Any municipality that has not complied with this order as of said date shall
be fined $100 for each day until compliance with this order.
3) Plaintiffs, acting under strict orders from the court, are to maintain the keys, beepers
and access codes for the sole purpose of expressing their faith. Plaintiffs are not to
share the keys, beepers or access codes with any other party, person or organization.
Violations of this order shall be deemed as contempt of court and shall be dealt with
accordingly.
4) Any urbanization that changes its means of accessing its public streets must notify
the municipality in which it is located and Plaintiffs, prior to executing the change.
The municipality shall be responsible for delivering the new means of access to
Plaintiffs within twenty-four hours of the change.
5) The court notes the inherent cooperation that will be necessary in order to implement
these directives. All parties have demonstrated their willingness to work together in
resolving these thorny issues. The municipalities are expected to work in good-faith
to ensure every urbanization complies with the court’s orders. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses are equally expected to respect the court’s orders and to also respect
property owners’ wishes. If a property owner places a sign on his property stating
“No Trespassing,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to respect the wishes of the
property owner.
6) Finally, Plaintiffs seek court approval of all currently operated unmanned
urbanizations. Plaintiffs rely upon the First Circuit opinion which states, “Thus, a
manned guard gate for each urbanization is required, unless the urbanization carries
a burden of special justification.” See Watchtower Bible and Tract Soc’y of New
York v. Municipality of Santa Isabel, 634 F.3d 3, 13 (2011). However, this opinion
did not require the court to make such determinations at this time. The court finds
that it would be more appropriate to allow the municipalities to initially determine
whether these urbanizations have sufficiently made the specific showing necessary
Case 3:04-cv-01452-GAG Document 978 Filed 03/21/13 Page 2 of 3
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Civil No. 04-1452 (GAG) 3
to demonstrate a special justification, thus allowing them to not convert to a manned
gate. At today’s hearing, some municipalities stated the reasons for allowing
unmanned gated to remain unmanned -mostly economic. Plaintiffs may argue the
municipalities have improperly applied the dictates of the First Circuit. Until such
time, the court need not question the judgment of the municipalities; however, the
municipalities should be on notice that the court understands the First Circuit’s
definitions and examples of what might constitute special justification should be
followed closely. Urbanizations consisting of several dozen residences will clearly
not meet this standard. Likewise, urbanizations with high average income will not
meet this standard. The court reserves the right to revisit the issue after the
municipalities have determined whether the unmanned urbanizations meet the special
justification standard.
More so, as to all existing unmanned urbanizations, the court finds the remedy it has
issued allows Jehovah’s Witnesses the same access to unmanned urbanizations as
person residing therein, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and every day
of the year. Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rights of religious exercise and expression
are, by virtue of the court’s ruling, not being limited by any time, place or manner
restrictions.
SO ORDERED.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico this 21st day of March, 2013.
S/Gustavo A. Gelpí
GUSTAVO A. GELPÍ
United States District Judge
Case 3:04-cv-01452-GAG Document 978 Filed 03/21/13 Page 3 of 3
