The legal fight between a well-known strip club and the city of Brookhaven is heading to Georgia’s top court.
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday will weigh a lawsuit filed by the Pink Pony that challenges the new north DeKalb city’s attempt to restrict nude dancing.
Pink Pony, which has been in business for 22 years, is no stranger to fighting in court for the right to exist. The strip club struck an agreement with DeKalb County in 2007 after a similar legal fight. Court records show that the club’s operators agreed to pay an increased fee of about $100,000 a year in exchange for dropping the legal fight.
That all changed when the city of Brookhaven incorporated in December 2012. Less than a month later, the new city’s councilmembers passed an ordinance that banned consumption of alcohol combined with nude dancing that was similar to DeKalb’s restrictions. The council declared that sexually-oriented businesses were linked to “adverse secondary effects” like crime and drugs.
Pink Pony sued the city in May 2013 saying that the ordinance was unconstitutional and that the club was exempt from it anyways because of the earlier agreement with DeKalb County. But the lawsuit was dismissed by a DeKalb County judge, who said Brookhaven was not bound by the DeKalb settlement.
Now the Georgia Supreme Court is stepping in to consider the case.
The strip club’s attorneys say in legal pleadings to the court’s seven justices that the 2007 contract with DeKalb should still hold. But Brookhaven’s attorneys said in court briefs that the club should no longer be allowed to pay $100,000 each year “for the privilege of ignoring the county’s laws.”
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