New Bern, North Carolina- After over two years of fighting with the city of New Bern and its police department, Pure Bliss owner Greg Sakas has waged triumphant this week.
Sakas, whose store was raided twice and his inventory confiscated in a preponderance issue, eventually filed a lawsuit against the city, including the police chief, Frank Palombo, and several detectives.
Depositions were going to be taken this week in the suit, but at the eleventh hour, both the city and the police dept. decided to settle the case with a tentative agreement.
“I can’t give the exact details as far as money but it was over six figures,” reports Sakas.
According to Sakas the settlement will make up for half of what he lost in terms of fighting the city.
“For them to come to the table, they did not believe they were going to win this,” states Sakas, noting that if he had gone to court and won, the verdict could have been tied up in an appeal.
“At this point the understanding is that we’ll be able to operate under the module we have right now,” Sakas continues. “Meaning as long as we got more general movies and magazines, that throws the preponderance case out. As far as they’re concerned they will not have any grounds to come in and inspect without first being given the okay by the city’s insurance dept. attorney.”
“It’s a total win for us, and a win for the state of North Carolina [meaning adult store operators],” proclaims Sakas.
“If you use our module, there’s no way anything can happen. We set a precedent of how to operate a store and they’ve given us the okay.”
According to Sakas there’s another suit being filed against the New Bern police dept. by one of the dispatchers.
“They’ve got their problems.”
On the other hand, Sakas’ Wilmington store, Intimate Bliss, which was also raided last year, will shut down.
“They got us on zoning there,” admits Sakas. “I can fight it. But the thing about it is, they’ve got another store [not owned by Sakas] tied up in that case. Pandora’s Box was raided a couple of weeks ago. And they’re going to get everybody, so we’ll see what Adam & Eve and all the rest of the stores are going to do.”
“If we were the only ones singled out in Wilmington, then we would have had a lawsuit against the city. But they’re going after another store and my understanding is they’re going after everybody. If they don’tm they know they’re going to be dealing with me and I will sue them. But we’re closing down at the end of the month and Pandora’s Box will have to do what they’re going to do.”
Sakas mentions that he’s looking at another store location in Jacksonville and is working out the details.
“We’ve already got a building, and the city says we’re good to go. Space-wise we’re going to lose maybe 60% of the adult area in this new location but at least we have an okay to go in. In Wilmington we weren’t making any money anyway. So this is a business decision more than anything and my gut is to go forward.”