Some State Street bar owners said they might close early on Halloween if they receive $50,000 from both the city and UW-Madison, Dane County Tavern League President Barb Mercer told the Wisconsin State Journal.
Citing $130,000 in outstanding legal fees from the 2003 drink special ban class-action lawsuit, Mercer said the case has already cost the League $320,000 for attorney bills.
The suit was leveled by a Minneapolis law firm in Dane County Circuit Court against 24 downtown Madison bars and the Dane County Tavern League. The suit arose out of a voluntary agreement between 24 downtown bars and the city to eliminate weekend drink specials.
The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of three bar patrons. It asked for \tens of millions of dollars"" in damages for customers allegedly cheated by the practice.
The judge ruled that political pressure from the Alcohol License Review Committee backed by city authority led to the drink special ban, and not from any attempt to fix prices.
""It's not clear that we could contribute to their defense even if we wanted to,"" Mayoral spokesperson George Twigg told the Wisconsin State Journal. ""A legal threshold of 'public purpose' must be met when spending city money, and it's not clear this would qualify. Overall, the mayor views [Mercer's offer] as a positive development.""
