Contractual Clause Leads to Removal of Porn from Texas 7-Eleven Store
by Allie Martin
March 23, 2004
(AgapePress) - A 7-Eleven convenience store in Texas has agreed to pull pornographic magazines from its shelves after being contacted by a legal firm that seeks to protect individuals' religious freedoms.It was back in 1982 when a Christian businessman sold property to 7-Eleven, Inc., for a store in Fort Worth. The contract included a restrictive covenant which stated that the property could never be used for the sale or display of any obscene material.
Recently, the Christian businessman discovered that pornographic magazines were being sold at the store. Attorneys with Liberty Legal Institute intervened and, as attorney Hiram Sasser says, the offensive material was soon removed from the store's shelves.
"Here all this time has passed, and the next thing you know, they started selling Playboy in the 7-Eleven store -- so we contacted 7-Eleven," the LLI spokesman explains. "They're very willing to cooperate and remove all the pornography [from] the store, never to allow pornography in that store again."
The attorney encourages others who may find themselves in a similar situation to review their legal documents.
"One of the lessons that everybody can learn is that if somebody sold some property to any store that might be selling pornography now, they ought to take a look at their deed," Sasser says. "Sometimes these things just magically appeared and no one ever paid attention to them before.
"Maybe we need to blow the dust off these deeds and make sure that we can clean some of this pornography out," he says.
Sasser says Christian businessmen can include restrictive covenants against the sale of porn, alcohol, or other activities whenever property is sold to convenience stores or other businesses.
