Make big money. Don't open a strip club.
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
Bob Davis' dream of making money again by not having a strip club license were dashed recently when a federal judge awarded him one thin dollar for having his rights violated by the City of Seattle. He'd wanted $2.3 million, almost triple what he'd already earned through similar court challenges. But it was still a win, even by $1, and therefore his attorneys are now able to ask the court to make taxpayers pay for the firm's $300-an-hour services to the would-be stripper prince, a $138,000 tab.
Davis once operated Giggles Comedy Club and the Urban Comedy Cafe, and is responsible for a lawsuit that forced City Hall to lift its moritorium in 2007 on new downtown nudie clubs. Unable to open his own club, he has made a decent living through failure. He won $500,000 from Seattle in a 2005 case after proving the city wrongly refused him a club license, and three years later collected $350,000 from the city of Bothell using the same strategy.
The most recent case involves his attempt to open a strip club at the site of Cyndy's House of Pancakes in north Seattle. The plan was stalled by neighbors and city officials invoking an adult cabaret requirement that such clubs not be close to schools, child-care centers and public parks.
As U.S. Judge Robert Lasnik said in his March 27 ruling, the court previously ruled against the city because it "failed to place limits on the time within which the decision-maker must issue the license." The city couldn't stall Davis forever.
But Davis could prove he suffered financially as a result of that delay. This time, Lasnik said, he couldn't.
In this case, Plaintiff's theory is relatively straightforward...[Davis's ATL corporation] expected to earn net profits of $1,667,908 during the 16-month delay period it attributes to the City. It also seeks an additional $636,733 in pre-judgment interest.
But Lasnik found no basis for such an award.
[E]ven if the City had moved as fast as Plaintiff now demands, the Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to prove, as a matter of fact, any damages. Given the pace at which Plaintiff moved throughout this process, the volatility of the market, and Davis's own statements, the Court finds it more likely than not that Plaintiff would have done nothing while Davis waited to convert Giggles into Jiggles [another failed strip venture]. Moreover, even were the Court to assume that Plaintiff would have acted promptly to open at an alternate location, the evidence demonstrates that it would have only lost money.
Still, the $1 award left the door open for attorney fees, which Davis' lawyer, Kristin Olson, submitted last week (below). Along with a few other charges, her costs were $134,000, she said, and a second attorney was due $4,200. The city has said it will challenge those charges.
Davis couldn't be reached for comment on whether this might end his strategy of profiting from failing to open strip clubs. But as he told Seattle Weekly earlier, "I'd much rather have been allowed to open a club years ago than have to go to court. I'd have made a lot more money."
Davis once operated Giggles Comedy Club and the Urban Comedy Cafe, and is responsible for a lawsuit that forced City Hall to lift its moritorium in 2007 on new downtown nudie clubs. Unable to open his own club, he has made a decent living through failure. He won $500,000 from Seattle in a 2005 case after proving the city wrongly refused him a club license, and three years later collected $350,000 from the city of Bothell using the same strategy.
The most recent case involves his attempt to open a strip club at the site of Cyndy's House of Pancakes in north Seattle. The plan was stalled by neighbors and city officials invoking an adult cabaret requirement that such clubs not be close to schools, child-care centers and public parks.
As U.S. Judge Robert Lasnik said in his March 27 ruling, the court previously ruled against the city because it "failed to place limits on the time within which the decision-maker must issue the license." The city couldn't stall Davis forever.
But Davis could prove he suffered financially as a result of that delay. This time, Lasnik said, he couldn't.
In this case, Plaintiff's theory is relatively straightforward...[Davis's ATL corporation] expected to earn net profits of $1,667,908 during the 16-month delay period it attributes to the City. It also seeks an additional $636,733 in pre-judgment interest.
But Lasnik found no basis for such an award.
[E]ven if the City had moved as fast as Plaintiff now demands, the Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to prove, as a matter of fact, any damages. Given the pace at which Plaintiff moved throughout this process, the volatility of the market, and Davis's own statements, the Court finds it more likely than not that Plaintiff would have done nothing while Davis waited to convert Giggles into Jiggles [another failed strip venture]. Moreover, even were the Court to assume that Plaintiff would have acted promptly to open at an alternate location, the evidence demonstrates that it would have only lost money.
Still, the $1 award left the door open for attorney fees, which Davis' lawyer, Kristin Olson, submitted last week (below). Along with a few other charges, her costs were $134,000, she said, and a second attorney was due $4,200. The city has said it will challenge those charges.
Davis couldn't be reached for comment on whether this might end his strategy of profiting from failing to open strip clubs. But as he told Seattle Weekly earlier, "I'd much rather have been allowed to open a club years ago than have to go to court. I'd have made a lot more money."
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