A retired teacher from Pennsylvania is suing authorities after being convicted for putting a 'for sale' sign in the window of his truck.
Will Cramer, from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, gave up his job as a high school biology teacher in New Jersey last year with plans to go to the Philippines for a year to teach English.
As he began preparing for his trip, Cramer put his 2009 Buick LaCrosse and 1987 Chevy Deluxe up for sale and advertized them on social media. When he failed to sell, he decided to put a 'for sale' sign in the window of his truck.
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Seeing a 'for sale' sign in a car window isn't a particularly unusual sight, so Cramer was surprised in October 2023 when he noticed a parking ticket on the truck despite it being parked legally on the road.
The ticket explained that while parking on the street was legal, parking 'for the purposes' of the selling the car was not, and would result in a criminal charge and a fine.
Shocked, Cramer removed the sign - though he was able to sell the truck to someone who had seen the sign before he removed it.
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Amid his desire to prepare for his trip, Cramer originally decided to pay the fine by mail to 'get it over with', he told Fox News Digital.
However, his check was reportedly returned, along with a letter saying he now owed additional late fees.
“At this point I got kind of angry because I thought it was bad enough that they violated my freedom of speech,” Cramer said.
“Now they want more money because they didn’t get the ticket exactly on the date that they needed it.”
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Cramer decided to fight the fine and went before the local magistrate to argue the ordinance violated the First Amendment.
In a press release shared by the Institute for Justice, Cramer said: “It made no sense to me that I could park my truck on the street legally, but as soon as I put a for-sale sign in the window, it became illegal."
Upon facing the judge, however, Cramer was found guilty of his crime and was and ordered to pay $123.75 in fines and court costs.
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In an effort to fight back, Cramer has now teamed up with the Institute For Justice to file a lawsuit which claims the ban on 'for sale' signs in cars on the street violates the First Amendment rights of locals hoping to sell their cars.
Bobbi Taylor, one of the attorneys representing Cramer, commented: “People have put for-sale signs in car windows for as long as cars have been around, and there is no legitimate reason for the government to ban doing so.
"Americans have a First Amendment right to truthfully advertise things they are selling, and that includes putting a for-sale sign in their car window.”
Cramer has said the lawsuit is about 'standing up for the free speech rights of everybody in Nazareth'.
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UNILAD has contacted the Borough of Nazareth for comment.
Emily Brown