Morgantown, Mountain State Justice agree to settle panhandling suit

Feb. 26—MORGANTOWN — It appears the city of Morgantown and Anthony Rowand, through legal counsel from Mountain State Justice, have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit tied to the city’s since-repealed panhandling law.

The proposed settlement details, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, stipulate that the city will pay a total of $35, 100.

Of that amount, $10, 100 will be paid to Rowand — $10, 000 in damages and $100 as the sole class member currently identified as having paid fines or costs under the ordinance.

Mountain State Justice will be paid $25, 000 in full satisfaction of its claims for fees, according to the settlement.

Further, the city must run a Class 2 legal advertisement indicating that any person previously charged under the ordinance will have any existing convictions vacated. No action is required on the part of those convicted.

Lastly, the city must notify the Morgantown Police Department that officers cannot enforce other laws for the purpose of limiting activity solely prohibited by the repealed panhandling law.

The Dominion Post reached out to the city and Mountain State Justice for comment.

Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffee confirmed the parties had submitted a settlement agreement to the court. He said the city would provide comments after the court accepted the terms.

Mountain State Justice did not respond in time for this report.

The law at the heart of the suit — City Code Section 371.10 — first went on the city’s books in July 2005.

It prohibited asking for money or other objects of value by any means with the intention of the money or objects being transferred from an occupant of a vehicle within a public roadway at that time and place. It also outlawed standing in any portion of a public right-of-way to solicit business, goods or money.

Mountain State Justice said it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because the ordinance was content-based, meaning it only applied to individuals exercising a specific kind of speech—the solicitation of money, property or business — and not, for example, those touting a political candidate or passing out religious literature.

The legal advocacy nonprofit filed suit on April 22, 2024 on Rowand’s behalf, explaining he was ticketed and assessed fines under this code section nine times between June 2, 2023 and Feb. 12, 2024.

The lawsuit explained Rowand often panhandles at or near the traffic light near Hornbeck Road.

Earlier this month, bodycam footage of an Oct. 23, 2024 interaction at that location between Rowand and a Morgantown Police officer showed up on social media.

During the interaction, which resulted in a citation for disorderly conduct, Rowand said he’d been waiting to be ticketed because, “My lawyer said I’ve got to get a couple of them.”

According to the settlement, the city claims it’s not aware of anyone else to be ticketed under the ordinance.

Lydia C. Milnes, deputy director of Mountain State Justice, previously told The Dominion Post nobody at the organization encouraged Rowand to break the law and she didn’t know why he offered those comments to the officer.

Milnes also denied, as the officer asserted during the interaction, that MSJ was using Rowand for “a fu —ing payday.”

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