Adult store seeks fed help again to stay open

Greg Tuttle

Monday, July 10, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

For the third time in as many years the battle between Las Vegas city officials and the owners of an adult bookstore is headed to a federal appeals court.

Michael Stein, an attorney for the Hot Stuff Video store at 5100 W. Charleston Blvd., filed a motion late Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Stein is seeking an emergency injunction against the city to allow the store to remain open during an appeal.

Hot Stuff was closed by the city last Monday after District Judge Michael Douglas issued an order prohibiting the store from staying open without a valid business license.

The business license and the store's location in an area not zone for adult businesses have been at the center of the dispute since the store opened in March 1997.

The store, owned by parent company Baby Tam & Company Inc., is located in an area zoned for commercial use. But according to city zoning laws, adult businesses are only allowed in industrial zones.

Weeks after the store received a temporary business license, a city audit determined that more than 50 percent of its merchandise was sexually orientated. As a result, the city has been trying to force its closure and won an initial ruling in District Court.

But the store owners have twice won appeals in the federal court system allowing Hot Stuff to remain open. The store has remained open for all but nine months as the legal battle continues.

In the latest filing, Stein argues the city is violating the store owner's free speech rights by forcing the store to close.

"Any loss of First Amendment freedoms, even briefly, constitutes irreparable injury," according to the motion filed by Stein.

Stein is asking the federal appeals court to allow the store to remain open while an appeal of the latest decision is considered. That appeal has yet to be filed.

William Henry, Las Vegas' senior litigation attorney, could not be reached this morning for comment.