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CLARKSVILLE — from www.couriernews.com – X-Mart will remain open pending a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court after officials here approved a stay of injunction submitted by the store’s attorney.
In a December ruling, Circuit Court Judge Dennis Sutterfield ordered the store to cease “operating a non-comforming sexually oriented business in violation of the City’s Ordinance No. 06-534” after more than five years of civil suits against the adult superstore. The city of Clarksville claims X-Mart is violating a local law that prohibits sexually-oriented stores in certain areas of the city.
Gary S. Edinger, the Florida-based attorney who is representing X-Mart, appealed Sutterfield’s ruling to the Supreme Court on Jan. 6.
“We filed an appeal, and that’s still pending at the moment before the Supreme Court,” Edinger said. “The stay requested the judge not act on the injunction until the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Edinger said the appeal was filed because Sutterfield’s ruling stated X-Mart waived its right to bring a constitutional claim, and therefore the court did not rule on any of the claims brought forth by the adult store.
“What we expect will happen is that the Supreme Court will say there was not a waiver to the right to bring a constitutional claim and then they’ll send it back to Judge Sutterfield, because the trial judge did not actually rule on any of our claims — he just said we couldn’t bring them,” Edinger said.
A motion for stay of injunction was filed Feb. 14 by Edinger and approval of the motion by the city was filed in the Johnson County Courthouse the next day, allowing the store to operate regularly until the Supreme Court’s ruling, which could take several months.
If the Supreme Court rules against X-Mart, the novelty shop will have to dramatically reduce its inventory of sexually-oriented merchandise or close, Edinger said in a Jan. 8 interview.
In April 2011, three clerks from X-Mart were found not guilty of obscenity charges.
Clarksville City Attorney Bruce Wilson was out of office Tuesday afternoon and unavailable for comment.
Read more: The Courier – Your Messenger for the River Valley – X Mart to operate until Supreme Court ruling