A federal judge in Orlando has delivered a final blow to the downtown bars and nightclubs that have been waging a legal battle over the city’s late-night alcohol sales restriction policy. The dismissed lawsuit, initially filed against the city and Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, challenged the mandate requiring bars to pay for “police protection” as part of an ordinance enacted back in May 2023 to curb crime in the Downtown Entertainment Area. The controversy specifically revolved around what has been termed the “After Midnight Alcohol Sales Permit” or AMS Permit, which requires venues to shell out a fee in exchange for the ability to sell alcohol past midnight and for heightened security measures.
However, the bars’ contentions were quashed when the judge labeled their complaint as an “impermissible shotgun pleading,” according to documents from the case reported by ClickOrlando. The bars asserted that the city allowed other establishments, like larger venues and hotels, to hold AMS Permits without the same obligations, allegedly infringing on their Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Yet, the judge’s ruling did not find their legal arguments to convincingly carry any weight.
Justice was similarly unsympathetic to the nightlife establishments in a parallel action where District Judge Wendy Berger tossed out a lawsuit brought forth by a collection of nightclubs. They argued that the city’s crackdown on late-night alcohol sales was unfairly singling them out, but the judge found the police-protection fee reasonable and not in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. This separate report was detailed by WFTV…