San Diego civil rights attorneys at McKenzie Scott PC today announced a $450,000 settlement with the City of San Diego. The settlement is on behalf of client William Dorsett, a San Diego artist and street performer whose civil rights lawsuit not only secured a significant financial recovery but also resulted in the repeal of a 130-year-old municipal ordinance that had been used to criminalize protected speech in public spaces.

The case arose from a June 2023 incident in Balboa Park, where Mr. Dorsett was cited for disorderly conduct under San Diego Municipal Code 56.27 after he verbally criticized park rangers who were enforcing busking regulations against another street performer who was making bubbles for children in iconic Balboa Park. Dorsett called the rangers "bullies" and encouraged the cited performer not to be intimidated. Despite his comments constituting speech at the very core of First Amendment protection, San Diego park rangers cited Dorsett under the ordinance.

After Dorsett was convicted in San Diego Municipal Court, McKenzie Scott PC's civil rights attorneys pursued an appeal that succeeded in reversing the conviction in May 2024, with a California state appellate court finding his speech fully protected under the First Amendment. After requests to the City to simply repeal the ordinance and compensate Dorsett for his constitutional injuries went ignored, the firm filed a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging both the citation and the constitutionality of the ordinance itself.

In July 2025, U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz issued a decisive ruling finding that the "Constitution protects Dorsett's right to criticize law officers, but Section 56.27 allowed officers to cite him if his conduct or speech was in their view 'offensive' or 'vulgar or indecent.' The ordinance thus chilled a substantial amount of free speech and was unconstitutionally overbroad." The Court also held that "citizens lacked fair notice of what conduct and speech Section 56.27 outlawed, the ordinance thus gave too much discretion to law officers to decide what speech and conduct was in violation, and therefore the ordinance was unconstitutionally vague." The City of San Diego finally repealed the ordinance in March 2025 as litigation continued, and the San Diego City Council approved the $450,000 settlement in April 2026.

"This case was never just about one citation," said civil rights attorney Michele Akemi McKenzie, lead counsel for Mr. Dorsett and co-founder of McKenzie Scott PC. "Discovery revealed that law enforcement had been using this ordinance for years to suppress speech they simply did not like - targeting performers, artists, and anyone who dared to criticize them in a public space. We are proud to have secured justice for Mr. Dorsett and to have assisted him in achieving the permanent removal of this outdated and unconstitutional law from San Diego's books. The protection of free speech is as important now as ever."

The settlement represents a significant victory for civil liberties in San Diego, adding to a growing body of federal decisions rebuking the City's enforcement practices around expressive activity in public spaces. The case also drew attention to the broader pattern of San Diego maintaining antiquated and constitutionally suspect ordinances on the books - including a World War I-era "seditious language" law repealed only in 2020 - until forced to act.

"I am pleased to be at the end of this journey. It started with me trying to help defend buskers' rights in the park, only for my rights to be chilled and the people involved attempting to criminalize my free speech," said Mr. Dorsett following announcement of the settlement. "I feel vindicated by the court's rulings and feel relieved to have come to a settlement resolution."

About McKenzie Scott PC

McKenzie Scott PC is a San Diego civil rights law firm dedicated to protecting individual liberties and holding government entities accountable. The firm specializes in San Diego civil rights violation cases, including police misconduct, First Amendment rights, in-custody jail deaths, civil liberties, and public interest litigation. McKenzie Scott's San Diego civil rights attorneys have has successfully represented numerous families in excessive force and wrongful death cases against law enforcement agencies, including securing the then-largest excessive-force verdict in American history ($85 million in K.J.P. v. San Diego) and the largest wrongful death settlement in San Diego County history ($16 million in the Hayden Schuck case).

For more information, please visit www.mckenziescott.com.