Fort Wayne settles suit challenging amplified-noise statute

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Indiana’s second-largest city has settled a federal lawsuit that challenged a portion of its ordinance regulating amplified noises.

Court documents filed Tuesday show the city of Fort Wayne has agreed to an injunction permanently barring it from enforcing a provision that “prohibits amplified sound, including speech, that can be heard more than 50 feet from the source.”

The Journal Gazette reports that activists Jain Young and Rowan Greene sued the city last year, alleging the ordinance violated the First Amendment. Greene was ticketed under the ordinance after he and Young had used an amplifier to speak at a peace rally outside the Allen County Courthouse.

Their suit argued the noise prohibition was unreasonable because normal city sounds, including people talking loudly, can be heard more than 50 feet away.

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