Supreme Court clears way for strip club lawsuit

December 14, 2020

NSF Staff

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a legal dispute about whether an Orange County strip club improperly discriminated against two women who were barred from entering the establishment because they were not accompanied by a man. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively lets stand a decision by the 5th District Court of Appeal, meaning that the lawsuit filed by Anita Yanes and Brittney Smith will move forward. Yanes and Smith accuse Rachel’s Adult Entertainment and Steakhouse of violating Orange County ordinances because it denied them access based on their sex, according to a July ruling by a panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal. A circuit judge agreed with Rachel’s that the ordinances were “preempted” by a state law known as the Florida Civil Rights Act and dismissed the case. Yanes and Smith appealed the dismissal. The appeals court did not rule on the validity of the ordinances but overturned the dismissal because it said Rachel’s had failed to properly bring Orange County into the lawsuit as a party. It pointed to a state law that requires counties to be brought in as parties when ordinances are challenged. “Specifically, the Legislature authorized trial courts to grant declaratory relief in proceedings concerning the validity of a county ordinance --- but only if the county was made a party to those proceedings,” the appeals-court ruling said. Rachel’s went to the Supreme Court in August after the appeals-court ruling.