Members of the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a lawsuit against the City of Tuscaloosa on Friday brought by Twelve25 Sports Bar over an ordinance limiting the number of people inside bars and restaurants.
Tuscaloosa passed an ordinance in March 2023 requiring an establishment whose alcohol license is issued as a restaurant to be assigned an occupancy limit corresponding to its configuration as a restaurant rather than a bar.
Before the ordinance's passage, Twelve25 enjoyed a dual occupancy limit: a maximum occupancy of 287 persons when configured as a restaurant and a much higher occupancy limit of 519 when configured as a bar. By capping Twelve25's maximum occupancy at 287 persons, the ordinance hurt the sports bar portion of Twelve25's business, ultimately decreasing its overall revenue, according to court records.
According to the Alabama Supreme Court, Twelve25 Sports Bar’s ownership group, CMB Holdings Group, alleged in a complaint that it was the victim of a racially discriminatory conspiracy designed to "target[] [its] minority-owned business." CMB contended that the defendants "wrongfully and illegally" blamed Twelve25 for a shooting that took place on the Strip in January 2023 that allegedly involved some of Twelve25's patrons. In CMB's view, the defendants used that shooting as a pretext for enacting the Ordinance, which — according to CMB — was really designed to punish CMB for having black ownership, for attracting black clientele, and for "attract[ing] significant numbers of customers away from already-established businesses on the Strip which have white owners." The defendants — many of whom are themselves black — denied these allegations.
The shooting received national attention in January 2023. Two former Alabama basketball players were recently named in a wrongful death lawsuit in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, who was shot dead. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Western Division by Harris' family. Harris and her boyfriend were visiting Tuscaloosa when she was shot in the early morning hours of January 15.
Former Crimson Tide star Brandon Miller, who was taken No. 2 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, and Darius Miles, who was kicked off the team shortly after the shooting, and Miles' childhood friend Michael Davis were all named in the suit. Miles and Davis have both been charged with capital murder, while Miller was not charged with anything.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled the judgment the trial court certified was not an appealable final judgment and dismissed CMB’s lawsuit.
“The second dispute common to both the adjudicated and unadjudicated claims involves whether the Ordinance represented a proper exercise of the City's police powers. As this Court has long held, the government's "general police powers are not inhibited" by prohibition on laws impairing the obligations of contracts,” members of the Alabama Supreme Court wrote in their opinion. “In general, so long as the government exercises its police powers to serve a genuine "public end," the resulting law does not violate § 22, even if it has the incidental effect of impairing private contracts. The question whether the Ordinance serves a genuine public end is hotly disputed in both the still-pending § 22 claims and the adjudicated procedural and substantive due-process claims (counts 5 and 6) -- all of which center on CMB's allegation that the Ordinance was enacted solely to discriminate against black business owners and clientele, rather than to support any legitimate public interest. Again, this commonality could give rise to inconsistent results and illustrates why these claims are ill-suited to piecemeal adjudication.”
Twelve 25 by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
