JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) The city of Joplin has settled a lawsuit filed by a homeless
man over a panhandling restriction in the city.
The Joplin Globe reports the city agreed to pay $3,510, of which $1,500 will go
to Christopher Snyder. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on
Snyder’s behalf.
Snyder alleged his free speech rights were violated when he was required to
leave a location where he was asking for money. He and his wife were living in a
car at the time.
Last March, the city enacted a new section in its panhandling ordinance that
required panhandlers and solicitors to stay 150 feet (46 meters) from
intersections where speed limits were more than 35 mph, and to stay off highway
dividers or medians. The city repealed that section of the ordinance in October.
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