City of Cleveland v. Daher, Unpublished Decision (12-14-2000)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 14, 2000
DocketNo. 76975.
StatusUnpublished

This text of City of Cleveland v. Daher, Unpublished Decision (12-14-2000) (City of Cleveland v. Daher, Unpublished Decision (12-14-2000)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Cleveland v. Daher, Unpublished Decision (12-14-2000), (Ohio Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

This is an appeal from an order of Cleveland Municipal Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka granting a permanent injunction prohibiting appellants Natalie Modic and Downtown Office, Inc. (Modic) from presenting adult entertainment at the Office Lounge, a bar and restaurant located at 3230 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Modic claims that applicable City of Cleveland ordinances are unconstitutionally vague, that the bar does not merit regulation under those ordinances, that the injunction is vague and overbroad, and that the City utilizes an unconstitutional licensing scheme. We disagree and affirm the injunction.

On April 16, 1998, a building inspector for Cleveland's Division of Building and Housing issued a violation notice to the Office Lounge after he inspected the premises and determined that the bar was presenting topless female dancers. The building did not have a certificate of occupancy authorizing such entertainment and was ineligible to receive such a certificate because it was located within 1,000 feet of a church. The violation notice ordered the unauthorized use stopped. The inspector returned to the premises on May 29, 1998, and discovered that the bar was still presenting topless dancers.

On June 3, 1998 the City filed a complaint in Cleveland Municipal Housing Court against Emile and Hayat Daher, the owners of the property, alleging that they were operating an adult cabaret on the site in violation of applicable zoning laws, Cleveland Codified Ordinances (C.C.O.) 347.07 and 3105.10. On June 4, 1998 it amended the complaint to add Modic and Downtown Office, Inc., the tenants of the building, as defendants and sought a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction prohibiting the Dahers or Modic from operating the site as an adult cabaret. The Dahers have not appeared or defended Modic's use of the premises.

C.C.O. 347.07 describes adult entertainment uses and regulates location for such uses within the city. An adult cabaret is defined, inter alia, as:

[A] commercial establishment, including a nightclub, bar, restaurant or similar establishment, which regularly features persons who expose specified anatomical areas, or dancers, strippers or similar live entertainers in performances which are distinguished or characterized by the exposure of special [sic] anatomical areas or by the depiction or description of specified sexual activities[.] C.C.O. 347.07(b)(6).

Specified anatomical areas includes the female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola. C.C.O. 347.07(b)(2)(A)(4). An adult cabaret is considered an adult entertainment use, and is prohibited from locating within 1,000 feet of a church. C.C.O. 347.07(c)(5). C.C.O. 327.02 requires a business to obtain a certificate of occupancy prior to establishing or changing a building's use and operating without the required certificate violates C.C.O. 327.02 and 3105.10. Provided that building and zoning requirements for the remainder of the business are satisfied, a certificate adding an adult entertainment use is authorized if the location requirements of C.C.O. 347.07(c) are met. Even if it meets the location restrictions, an adult use is still subject to criminal sanctions if it does not obtain the authorization first.

The judge granted the motion for a temporary restraining order on June 5, 1998. On June 30, 1998, Modic submitted discovery requests to the City, including interrogatories and requests for admissions pursuant to Civ.R. 36. Modic requested that the City admit:

1. The defendants may sometimes feature live performances at their business establishment which expose specified anatomical areas or depict specified sexual activities [sic] without being an adult cabaret within the meaning of [C.C.O.] 347.07, so long as they do not do so regularly.

2. The defendants are not an adult cabaret within the meaning of [C.C.O.] 347.07 if they present live performances which do not feature either specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities 80% of the entire time that the business is open to the public, and feature performances which do include specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities the remaining 20% of the time the business is open to the public.

The remaining requests changed the percentages to 75%-25%, 70%-30%, 65%-35%, and 60%-40%, then requested similar admissions when the frequency was measured by the presentation of adult entertainment on a specific number of days per week or month. Finally, Modic requested an admission that the Office Lounge could feature, on an irregular basis, adult entertainment without qualifying as an adult cabaret. Modic also submitted interrogatories to the City, in which she sought the City's definition of the term regularly features.

On July 21, 1998, the judge granted a preliminary injunction and on August 5, 1998 Modic filed an answer and counterclaim to the City's complaint, seeking, inter alia, a declaratory judgment that C.C.O. 347.07 was unconstitutionally vague both facially and as applied, and that the location requirement was unconstitutional because the denial of a certificate of occupancy was not subject to prompt judicial review.

Because the City did not respond to Modic's discovery requests, on September 28, 1998, she filed a motion to compel discovery and a document captioned Notice of Matters Deemed Admitted By Plaintiff. The motion to compel sought only to require the City to respond to the interrogatories and document requests. There is nothing in the record that shows a ruling on the motion, but it does contain the City's responses to interrogatories filed on November 6, 1998. On November 13, 1998, the City filed a motion for a protective order to prevent the production of some documents, and objected to Modic's requests for admissions as inappropriate. There is, again, no record of a ruling on the motion, nor any indication that Modic pursued any further attempt to compel discovery.

On December 28, 1998, a hearing on the permanent injunction and counterclaim was held before Magistrate Barbara A. Reitzloff. The City presented evidence that the Office Lounge was located within 1,000 feet of the First Methodist Church at 3000 Euclid Avenue and that the church also operated a shelter for homeless women and children at that address. It also showed that the Office Lounge had a certificate of occupancy authorizing a restaurant and lounge use, but did not have authorization for an adult entertainment use under C.C.O. 347.07. Lisa Thomas, the City's Commissioner of Building and Housing, testified that she was unaware that the Office Lounge had applied for a certificate of occupancy authorizing an adult entertainment use, either before or after being notified of the alleged violation.

Thomas was extensively cross-examined about her interpretation of the provisions of C.C.O. 347.07, and specifically questioned about the definition of an adult cabaret as a business that regularly features persons who expose specific portions of their bodies, including topless females. Thomas testified that she could not quantify a number or percentage of time described nudity could be displayed before it became regular but apparently conceded that, hypothetically, such displays could occur sometimes without becoming regular.

Modic testified in her own defense and admitted that the Office Lounge had presented topless women performing sexual or erotic dances for nine years prior to the TRO and preliminary injunction. While she testified that she did not understand the phrase regularly features, she agreed that there was always topless dancing prior to the injunction and since then has operated the business as a bikini bar, presenting similar entertainment, but without exposing any specified body parts.

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City of Cleveland v. Daher, Unpublished Decision (12-14-2000), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-cleveland-v-daher-unpublished-decision-12-14-2000-ohioctapp-2000.