Teacher sues after he’s convicted of putting ‘For Sale’ sign in truck window

A retired Pennsylvania teacher is suing his local government after he was convicted of a criminal charge for putting a “For Sale” sign in his truck window.

Will Cramer teamed up with the Institute for Justice last week to take legal action against the borough of Nazareth over its ordinance, claiming that it’s a violation of his First Amendment rights, according to the nonprofit law firm.

Cramer had put the sign in his 1987 Chevy Deluxe last October and received a ticket stating that parking a vehicle in public “for the purposes” of selling it was illegal.

“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,” said Cramer, who was found guilty by a judge after trying to fight his ticket.

“This lawsuit is bigger than me, it’s about standing up for the free speech rights of everybody in Nazareth.” 

Cramer had decided to sell his truck while planning to retire from his job teaching high school geometry and teach English in the Philippines for a year, he told Fox News Digital Thursday.

“I was retiring, and I was finally going to move to another country, so there was urgency to sell my truck,” Cramer said. “I wanted to sell some of my items and not take them with me. I didn’t want to store them.” 

After failing to immediately sell the truck online, he parked it on the street outside his house and put the sign on the window.

“When I pulled the ticket out from underneath the windshield wiper blade and I looked at it, I was actually receiving a ticket for putting a ‘For Sale’ sign and then advertising my car for sale,” Cramer said. “I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t mad, I was just trying to take it in.”

“Like, is this for real? Am I getting a ticket for putting a ‘For Sale’ sign on my truck?” he added. 

Indeed, Nazareth ordinance 15-411 specifically prohibits parking a vehicle on the street for “Displaying the same for sale,” according to the borough’s bylaws.

Cramer did actually end up selling the truck to someone who had seen the sign, and he decided to just pay the fine by mail.

“I just paid it, I wanted to get it over with,” he said. “And then I went back home to try to finish the rest of the things that I had to do to complete before I could leave.”

However, his check was reportedly returned by the town with a letter saying he 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,” he told the outlet. “Now they want more money because they didn’t get the ticket exactly on the date that they needed it.”

Cramer then pleaded not guilty and represented himself in court — citing the Constitution — to no avail.

He was convicted and ordered to pay $123.75 in fines and court costs, according to the report.

Cramer is fighting for a permanent injunction that would bar the township of about 6,000 from enforcing the ordinance “against a traditional, low-cost, and effective form of personal commercial speech.”

The Post reached out to Nazareth’s top lawmaker for clarification on the now-controversial ordinance.

“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,” said IJ Litigation fellow Bobbi Taylor, one of the attorneys representing Cramer.

“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.”