Commack strip club seeking to reopen after coronavirus closure drops lawsuit
Blush Gentleman's Club in Commack was forced by the state to shut down during the coronavirus pandemic along with other entertainment businesses. Credit: Barry Sloan
A Commack strip club Friday withdrew its suit against both Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the federal government that sought to allow the businesses to reopen despite the coronavirus epidemic, saying recent judicial decisions have made the business’ chance of success in court highly unlikely so further litigation would be futile.
The Blush Gentleman’s Club was closed in March as part of Cuomo’s general ban on the operation of places of entertainment such as restaurants and bars, along with strip clubs.
The suit filed in May in federal court in Central Islip also included the Small Business Administration as a defendant because of that federal agency’s longtime policy of denying loans under the federal Payroll Protection Program to businesses that provide “live performances of a prurient sexual nature."
The club’s attorneys, Joseph Murray and Peter Crusco, had said in court papers that only the State Legislature had the right to close down businesses and could not pass that authority on to the governor; and nude and semi-nude dancing has long been protected as free speech under the First Amendment.
The SBA’s policy in reference to nude dancing was “archaic,” the attorneys said.
The suit by the club said the actions of both Cuomo and the federal agency had resulted in a “catastrophic” financial situation and asked for unspecified damages, as well as money to pay employees.
In response, a spokesman for the governor, Richard Azzopardi, said the legislature had the power to grant Cuomo the authority to act because of the pandemic.
And Eastern District federal prosecutor James Knapp replied that while Blush had the legal right to operate, that did not mean that the government had to financially support it.
Last week U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross denied a club motion to grant a preliminary injunction to reopen the club while the case was argued in court.
In doing so, the judge said the club “may be well-advised to voluntarily withdraw [the entire] complaint” because she disagreed with the club’s arguments, and the case “appears doomed to fail.”
In withdrawing their case, attorneys for the club noted that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld the right of the governor of California to take executive action in response to the coronavirus in an opinion “that substantially mirrored Governor Cuomo’s Executive Orders.”
“Given the Supreme Court’s ruling … further litigation of the issues addressed in the case at the bar would be futile,” defense attorneys Murray and Crusco wrote in ending their case.
Azzopardi, brushing off suits he believes have no merit, said, in an email asking for reaction to the withdrawal, "I lost track of the frivolous suits filed during this pandemic. Stay smart. Wear a mask. Wash your hands."
The spokesman for Eastern District prosecutors, John Marzulli, declined to comment.
Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.
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