## Facts

- Frank E. Caswell, a Brockton restaurant owner, leased a freestanding building near the Westgate Mall to open an entertainment center featuring coin-operated video games.
- Caswell applied to the Brockton Licensing Commission for licenses for seventy-five coin-operated electronic amusement games under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 177A.
- The commission held a public hearing and then denied all requested licenses.
- The stated concerns reflected generalized anticipated effects on the neighborhood and youth (e.g., loitering, noise, traffic, truancy), rather than findings tied to specific conditions of Caswell’s proposed operation.
- Caswell sought declaratory relief and certiorari-type review in Superior Court; on cross-motions, the judge granted summary judgment for the commission and dismissed the complaint without an opinion.
- Caswell appealed; the reviewing court considered the hearing transcript and affidavits submitted in connection with summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 177A is facially unconstitutional for vagueness.
2. Whether denying video-game licenses under § 177A violates rights of free expression or association under the federal or state constitutions.
3. Whether the commission applied the correct statutory standard and whether the record legally supported denying the licenses.
4. Whether summary judgment for the commission was proper on the existing record.

## Decision

- The court rejected the facial vagueness challenge and held § 177A provides a sufficiently definite standard for licensing decisions aimed at public order and neighborhood tranquility.
- The court rejected the as-applied free expression and association claims, treating the regulation as directed to non-speech impacts (such as crowding, noise, and loitering) rather than suppression of communicative content.
- The court vacated the Superior Court judgment because the commission may have misinterpreted and applied § 177A and the case was not appropriately resolved by summary judgment on the record presented.
- The case was remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings consistent with the proper statutory standard and judicial review of the evidentiary basis for denial.

## Legal Principles

- A licensing statute is not void for vagueness when, read in context, it supplies an administrable standard that limits discretion and provides reasonable notice of the basis for regulation.
- Regulation of commercial amusements may be sustained as an exercise of local police power when aimed at neighborhood impacts and public order rather than the content of expression.
- Even where a local licensing authority has discretion, it must apply the statutory criteria to the specific facts of the application; denial cannot rest solely on speculative or generalized fears untethered to the record.
- On certiorari-type review of local licensing action, courts examine whether the authority acted within its jurisdiction, followed required procedures, applied the correct legal standard, and grounded its decision in the record so that meaningful judicial review is possible.
- Summary judgment is improper where the record permits a reasonable conclusion that the agency applied the wrong standard or where the evidentiary support for the decision is inadequately shown under the governing criteria.

## Conclusion

The court upheld § 177A against vagueness and First Amendment-style challenges, but vacated the judgment for the licensing commission because the denial of Caswell’s video-game licenses may have rested on an incorrect application of the statutory standard and required further judicial review on remand.


Caswell v. Licensing Comm’n for Brockton, 387 Mass. 864, 444 N.E.2d 922 (1983)