Lawyer questions city nudity ban
An attorney for a Colorado Springs nightclub that was slapped with a 10-day suspension after a "Girls Gone Wild" filming at which several women bared their breasts is asking a judge to declare the city's ban on nudity in licensed liquor establishments unconstitutional.
"There are cases that do give the city some leeway in regulating nudity, but it's an area of law that's a little bit unsettled," Mike Gross of Denver, who represents the owners of 13 Pure on East Pikes Peak Avenue, said Tuesday.
In a lawsuit filed in 4th Judicial District Court, Gross argued that prohibiting "any expressive dancing with a component of nudity by patrons of a liquor licensed establishment violates a patron's right to free expression in violation of the First and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution" and the state Constitution.
"13 Pure has standing to bring this challenge on behalf of its patrons," the lawsuit states.
But in a response to the lawsuit, Scott Patlin, a prosecuting attorney for the city, said the nudity and the fondling of breasts inside the nightclub Aug. 13 - conduct that's prohibited by city ordinance and state regulations - wasn't a form of expression.
"Specifically, if any expression was contained in the prohibited nudity or rubbing of breasts, whatever ideas were being expressed could have been reached by other means, and furthermore could have been expressed outside a liquor licensed establishment," Patlin stated in court documents.
Patlin could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The lawsuit names the city and the city's Liquor and Beer Licensing Board as defendants.
According to a partial transcript of the March 20 hearing, board member Kit Abrams said she was "personally shocked" by what happened at 13 Pure.
"I found the behavior, aside from the nudity, to be repulsive," she said, according to the transcript. "For goodness sake, this used to be a church."
Gross said the liquor board treated his clients unfairly. He pointed to the board's decision last week to fine Rum Bay $5,000 for serving visibly intoxicated patrons.
"They were offended by the women with bare breasts (at 13 Pure) as opposed to (Rum Bay) clearly violating the liquor code and serving clearly intoxicated people who present a danger to the public," Gross said. "That's what the liquor code is all about. Bare breasts don't present a danger to the public, at least not where I come from."
In addition to declaring the city's ban on nudity in licensed liquor establishments unconstitutional, Gross is seeking monetary damages for 13 Pure's loss of profits during its 10-day suspension.
Gross said the liquor board based its decision on what it perceived to be offensive and indecent behavior.
"I just went to court, and my guy was a multiple DUI offender, and the judge gave him a very stiff sentence," Gross said. "The judge said, ‘You're the kind of guy who gives me nightmares at night. If I let you out on the street, you could kill somebody.' A girl popping her top is not going to kill anybody."
