Fortuneteller sues county over rejection of business license

In a complaint filed in May with the Montgomery County Circuit Court, Nick Nefedro, then of Key West, Fla., and his lawyer, Ed Amourgis, who has offices in Rockville, contend the county is violating Nefedro’s free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as similar protections in the Maryland Constitution.

Other jurisdictions in the Washington region and Maryland take a more laissez-faire approach to the business of fortunetellers and psychics.

In 2004, Cecil County sought and won a repeal of a provision in state law that required fortunetellers to be licensed in that jurisdiction, as well as to prove they had lived in the county, owned property and paid taxes there for at least 18 months.

Before that, Charles County sought and won a repeal of its licensing requirement, which had been written into state law.

A similar ban in Harford County survived a challenge in federal court in 2002.

Nefedro, who according to the suit operates fortunetelling and palm-reading businesses in several jurisdictions and has a ‘‘business location in Bethesda,” could not be reached for comment.

Neither could Amourgis, whose co-counsel in the case Debra Hostyk, deferred to him, but said he was out of the country.