SIMI VALLEY -- Ending an 11-year legal wrangle, a judge has ordered the city to pay about $100,000 in damages and attorney fees to an entrepreneur for violating his right to open a nude dancing club, which he'll now try to open.
In a ruling last month, Judge William Rea of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles said the city's 1993 ordinance regulating nude entertainment clubs was "unconstitutional because ... (it) made it unreasonably difficult for an adult use applicant to complete the permit process."
Rea awarded businessman Philip Young $43,000 in damages and legal fees which will range between $55,000 and $60,000.
In 2001, the same court ordered Simi Valley to pay more than $82,000 to cover Young's legal fees. Young, who referred media calls to his attorney Roger Jon Diamond, had sought up to $10 million in lost profits, Diamond said.
"He (Young) is very happy to be made whole," Diamond said. "He would also like to get future loss profits but he's satisfied with the ruling so far."
Young is considering the possibility of opening the city's first nude adult entertainment club, Diamond said.
Despite the ruling against the city, City Council members were not overly disappointed.
"The end result is he didn't open up that type of business in town and he didn't make the millions of dollars he was seeking," said Councilman Glen Becerra.
The dispute started in 1993 after Young was issued a zoning clearance to remodel a building on Los Angeles Avenue in the Madera Plaza Shopping Center to open a nightclub with nude and seminude dancers. Pressured by public opposition, the city rescinded his permit based on parking concerns.
Later, the City Council adopted an ordinance saying adult entertainment clubs could not be next to churches, schools and some other places. A school board member then opened a Bible study center in the plaza, which was used as a reason not to approve the club.
