KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) - Billiards and Brews, LLC, is seeking damages against the City of Knoxville, Tenn., in a lawsuit related to the assertion that the Knox County Health Department lacked legal standing to issue mandates adopted by the city as a curfew for sale and consumption of alcohol.
The suit was filed March 29 in the Knox County Chancery Court by attorneys Brett Stokes and Russ Egli. Knoxville removed it to federal court two days later.
The suit alleges that the city lacked the legal authority to establish a regulation prohibiting all food and drink establishments from operating past 10 p.m., and that Billiards and Brews was cited for violating that curfew, leading to the business’s beer permit being revoked by the Knoxville City Council on February 10, 2021.
The suit alleges that the powers exercised by the city council are not theirs, but must be addressed through the Tennessee General Assembly. As a result, the petitioners present the enforcement of the curfew as a violation of their rights under the state constitution.
Billiards and Brews seeks both to have the curfew law declared unconstitutional by the court, according to court documents. In addition, the business seeks to have their beer license reinstated on the basis that the reason for revocation is invalid.