Lui v. Commission on Adult Entertainment Establishments of the Delaware

213 F.R.D. 166, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3459, 2003 WL 307933
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJanuary 31, 2003
DocketNo. CIV.A.02-177-KAJ
StatusPublished

This text of 213 F.R.D. 166 (Lui v. Commission on Adult Entertainment Establishments of the Delaware) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lui v. Commission on Adult Entertainment Establishments of the Delaware, 213 F.R.D. 166, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3459, 2003 WL 307933 (D. Del. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JORDAN, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Jeffrey Lui, David Lui, and Fantasia Restaurant & Lounge, Inc. (“Fantasia”) filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the defendants, the State of Delaware, the Attorney General of Delaware, Delaware’s Commission on Adult Entertainment Establishments (collectively the “State Defendants”), and New Castle County, Delaware (the “County”), have violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by refusing to issue the necessary permits for plaintiffs to feature live, nude dancers at the restaurant and bar plaintiffs operate in the County and by prosecuting them for illegally operating an adult entertainment establishment. (Docket Item [“D.I.”] 8 at ¶¶ 29, 37, 39-43, 45.) This case is only the latest in a long series of maneuvers in which the plaintiffs have engaged to gain permission to operate an adult entertainment establishment.

Presently before the Court are the following motions: plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability or, Alternatively, for Preliminary Injunction (D.I.13), the County’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (D.I.22), the County’s Motion to Dismiss (D.I.24), and the State Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (D.I.29).1 Because the plaintiffs are defendants in an on-going State criminal prosecution involving the issues which they also seek to litigate in this case, the Court, pursuant to Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), will abstain from exercising its jurisdiction and will dismiss without prejudice the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief. Plaintiffs’ claim for monetary damages, fees, and costs against the State Defendants will be dismissed with prejudice, since such claims are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Summary judgment for the County will be entered against plaintiffs on their claim for monetary damages, fees, and costs in the first count of their First Amended Complaint (D.I.8) (the “Amended Complaint”), since the County cannot be liable for enforcing a State-mandated policy of restricting the location of adult entertainment establishments. The remaining claim that plaintiffs have made against the County, which is set forth in the second count of their Amended Complaint, will be stayed pending the resolution of the State’s prosecution of the plaintiffs.

I. Background

David Lui (“Lui”) is the sole shareholder of Fantasia. (D.I. 16 at ¶ 3.) His son Jeffrey [168]*168is the General Manager of the business. (Id.) Since at least July, 1996, Lui has sought certification from the County that the property where Fantasia now operates, located at 1031 South Market Street in New Castle, Delaware, complies with the County’s zoning restrictions on adult entertainment establishments. (D.I. 8 at ¶14.) Such a certification is a prerequisite for Fantasia’s obtaining a State permit to offer adult entertainment. (See id. ¶15; D.I. 16 at ¶7.)

The New Castle County Department of Planning (the “Department”) reviewed Lui’s and Fantasia’s request and ultimately rejected it. (Id.) That action by the Department was affirmed by the New Castle County Board of Adjustment, whose decision was in turn affirmed by the Superior Court of Delaware and the Delaware Supreme Court. See Fantasia Restaurant & Lounge, Inc. v. New Castle County Board of Adjustment, 735 A.2d 424 (Del.Super.1998), aff'd, 734 A.2d 641 (Del.1999). The basis of the Department’s denial was the failure of Lui and Fantasia to comply with a requirement in the County code that any adult entertainment establishment be located beyond a 2,800 foot radius of any parcel of land containing a school, church, or other place of worship.2 (D.I. 8 at 1114; D.I. 16 at 11117-8.) See Fantasia, supra, 735 A.2d at 426-28. The 2,800 foot distance restriction is both a requirement of the State’s statute governing permits for adult entertainment establishments, 24 Del. C. § 1610(e) (“No new adult entertainment establishment ... shall operate ... within 2,800 feet from a church or school.”), and a requirement that the State affirmatively demands the County also recognize. See 24 Del. C. § 1610(d) (“Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no municipal corporation or county may adopt any ordinance or charter amendment with distance restrictions less than those provided in this section.”).

The plaintiffs nevertheless continued their preparations to open and operate Fantasia, while assuring government officials that adult entertainment would not be offered at the proposed site. When they sought approval from the County for a land development plan, however, plaintiffs’ submissions gave County officials concern that plaintiffs still planned to operate Fantasia as an adult entertainment establishment, in derogation of the laws and regulations forbidding that use of the property. (See D.I. 26 at B-13.) On October 2, 1998, an Assistant County Attorney wrote to counsel for Lui about the proposed Fantasia land use development project, stating that, “[djespite your client’s assurances that he does not intend to operate an adult entertainment center in the building, and plans only to operate a restaurant, the submitted plan clearly indicates otherwise.” (Id.) The County’s attorney went on to note that the County was concerned that Lui, “may claim some type of undue hardship by maintaining that we allowed the building to proceed when it was obvious that it was to serve as an adult entertainment center.” (Id.) Accordingly, the County demanded, and Lui executed, an affidavit categorically denying any intention to open or operate an “adult entertainment establishment,” as that term is defined by Delaware law, “absent zoning certification from the New Castle County Department of Land Use and an adult entertainment license from the State of Delaware.” (Id. atB-15.)

Having obtained development permits by sworn assurances to County officials, Lui next turned to the state agency responsible for liquor control. In February of 2000, counsel for Lui and Fantasia sent a letter to Delaware’s Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, representing that “Mr. Lui is no longer pursuing an adult entertainment li-cence and has so notified all of his neighbors.” (D.I. 30 at Ex. 1.) Instead, the letter said, Fantasia would offer entertainment [169]*169that, “would include bands, fashion shows, stand up comedians, and comprable [sic] entertainment to that at other facilities in the area.” (Id.)

On November 22, 2000, the Luis opened Fantasia for business. (D.I. 8 at 1117.) Despite their representations to government authorities and their neighbors about foregoing the offering of adult entertainment, and despite their concession that, due to the proximity of a church, the law forbade their turning Fantasia into an adult entertainment establishment (D.I. 8 at H 35), the plaintiffs readily admit that Fantasia has, “offered entertainment in the form of female exotic dancers[,]” ever since its opening. (D.I. 16 at 114.) According to the State, Fantasia “feature[s] partially nude erotic female dancers as the predominant form of entertainment being offered, complete with private rooms for so-called ‘lap dances.’ ” (D.I. 30 at 3.) An investigating police officer described Fantasia’s dancers as engaging in a variety of simulated sex acts.

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Bluebook (online)
213 F.R.D. 166, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3459, 2003 WL 307933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lui-v-commission-on-adult-entertainment-establishments-of-the-delaware-ded-2003.