Ban on law firms using celebrity’s images, voices in Florida advertising challenged in federal court

Filed 1w ago · Via Florida Phoenix · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: The White House from Washington, DC · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Morgan & Morgan, the 140-office personal injury firm, has sued The Florida Bar in federal court in Tallahassee, challenging a rule barring law firm ads from using a celebrity's voice or image. The complaint says the Bar blocked the firm from running ads featuring Shaquille O'Neal, Frankie Muniz, Kyle Busch, and John Daly, and even objected to a football camp billboard bearing college player Malachi Toney's image alongside the firm's logo.

The firm argues the rule violates First Amendment advertising rights and is unconstitutionally vague, giving the Bar 'standardless discretion.' It notes Florida is alone among states in this restriction, while insurance companies freely run celebrity-studded ads.

Morgan & Morgan says it sought an administrative fix first, asking the Bar's Board of Governors in April to allow celebrity ads with a disclaimer, and later asking for suspended enforcement pending review. The Bar's advertising committee chair recommended against any change, citing risk of public confusion, and the firm is now asking the court to declare the rule unconstitutional and award costs and fees.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A bar association worried that Shaq's face will 'confuse the public' about a personal injury ad is not an argument, it's a tell — plenty of industries with actual money already use celebrity pitchmen without triggering a constitutional crisis. Whatever this rule is protecting, it doesn't appear to be Floridians' ability to tell an ad from a documentary.

Source: Read the original at Florida Phoenix → Scored: Vanishing · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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