One day after they sued in federal court, Mons Venus club owner Joe Redner and one of the club's dancers pulled it in favor of a suit in state court. They've decided to get Tampa's new lap dancing ban thrown out in state court, arguing Tampa didn't follow proper procedure passing the ordinance - accusing the city of treating the issue as a land-use change.
Redner's attorney, Luke Lirot, tells the St. Petersburg Times his clients chose to move the suit to state court in part because federal courts have also ruled such cases should be tried in state court first. But money also played a factor. "If we can have the ordinance invalidated without a federal trial -- if we can do it on paper -- it will be more economical for my clients," he tells the paper.
Tampa Mayor Dick Greco says he's confident the city followed state law properly, including on how many public hearings were needed to pass the new law and how they should be advertised. He tells the Times Redner and Lirot just didn't like the judge assigned to hear the federal suit - Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich, who rejected a 1991 challenge by five adult dance clubs to a Pinellas County law barring nude dancers from being closer than three feet from customers. Tampa's new law makes the distance six feet.
Tampa police haven't yet charged anyone with breaking the new law, though several clubs including Mons Venus are still offering full-contact nude lap dances openly, the Times says. City officials won't say exactly when they'll crack down, the paper continues, but Greco says it will come quickly. Violators could face up to $1,000 fines and six months in jail, with clubs having more than three violations in 30 days risking being cited as public nuisances and the city able to take them to court to close them.
Lirot has sent city attorneys a letter saying the new law wasn't adopted under appopriate procedure, the Times says, and not only can't be enforced legally but would put the city under risk of wrongful arrest and other civil rights suits if police try making arrests.
And the paper says opponents of the law might have another technical objection - the city clerk's office stamped the passage of the law as Thursday, Dec. 2 - even though the council's unanimous vote didn't actually happen until the early Friday morning hours.
