Louisville's nude-dancing standards rejected

By The Associated Press

06.14.02

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge is barring Louisville from enforcing most of its adult-entertainment laws, including rules that prohibit nude and topless dancers from getting closer than 3 feet to customers or each other.

U.S. District Judge John Heyburn II issued the injunction yesterday after he found multiple problems with the city's stricter adult-entertainment rules that made them unenforceable.

Heyburn's ruling applies to the city's dozen topless bars that sell liquor, plus Deja Vu, a club where dancers are totally nude but where no alcohol is sold.

Exotic dancers and strip-club owners who had requested the injunction hailed Heyburn's ruling as a victory for free expression.

The injunction "will open things up for more nude dancing," attorney Mike Hatzell told Louisville's The Courier-Journal. "I don't think there will be any more prohibitions whatsoever."

Given the judge's ruling, business should pick up at PT's Show Club on East Market Street, said Manager Steve Potts.

"We have been waiting for this to happen for a long time," Potts said.

But Alderman Steve Magre, who led the city's effort last fall to crack down on adult businesses, pledged to correct the flaws in the ordinances and reinstate the regulations as soon as possible.

City Law Director Bill Stone said yesterday he would not recommend that the aldermen appeal Heyburn's ruling. Stone noted that Heyburn's ruling cautioned on the difficulty of passing enforceable ordinances because the courts keep interpreting adult-entertainment laws differently.

If the city does create a new adult-entertainment law, the bars will challenge it, said Bradley Shafer, a Michigan lawyer who was the lead attorney for those fighting the ordinances. Shafer called the 3-foot buffer "fascist and draconian."

Heyburn ruled that the major flaw in the city's adult-entertainment regulations was their failure to give applicants options if the city denies owners a license.

The city's rules allowed applicants to appeal to Jefferson District Court but didn't specify that the business could continue to operate while a judge considered the case.

That amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of expression — without guaranteeing prompt review, Heyburn said.

Under city-county merger next January, the county law would apply countywide, if the federal injunction remains in effect.

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