City of Dallas' Squabble With Exxxotica Is Over For Now (SFW)
Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater cancelled one of North Texas' most anticipated trials of the summer when he pulled the plug on Exxxotica's lawsuit with the city of Dallas, dismissing the suit just before the trial's slated June kickoff date.
Fitzwater didn't rule on the case's central issue, whether or not the city infringed on Exxxotica's First Amendment rights when the city council voted not to allow the pornography convention to return to the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. Instead, Fitzwater dismissed the suit, without prejudice, because the entity that sued the city, Three Expo events, lacked appropriate standing to challenge the city's restriction, Fitzwater said.
Pending any potential appeal, the dismissal decision orders Three Expo to pay the city's court costs.
Three Expo sued the city. The company that actually entered into a contract with the city, however, is called Exotica Dallas. Throughout the trial, Three Expo Events director Jeff Handy said that Exotica Dallas was an arm of Three Expo events. In his decision, Fitzwater decided otherwise, while also refusing a request by Handy to add Exotica Dallas as a plaintiff in the suit, ruling that it was too late in the game to do so.
Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-exxxotica-lawsuit-dismissed-for-now-9467205
