Downtown Madison bar owners agreed five years ago to stop Friday and Saturday night drink specials, but now lawyers are asking the state Supreme Court to reinstate the lawsuit, claiming the bars conspired to stop the specials.
Lawyers of a Minneapolis law firm asked the state Supreme Court Wednesday to reinstate a 2002 lawsuit claiming bars downtown banned weekend drink specials in a coordinated effort to fix drink prices.
The case has been dismissed in lower courts, and it is now up to the state Supreme Court to decide whether to uphold the lower courts' decision or reinstate the case.
In 2004, the case was filed in a state court, but the trial court dismissed it. In a separate case being heard by the federal courts, the alleged price fixing began in the early 1990s.
Attorney Steven Uhr hopes the case is reinstated at the state level on behalf of all consumers whom he said are the victims. He said price fixing is illegal and assumes the taverns did it because it was in their best interest.""
Madison-Dane County Tavern League attorney Kevin O'Connor said that in 2002, more than 20 bars and taverns voluntarily ended drink specials after 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights because of pressure from the Alcohol License Review Committee.
He said the ALRC originally wanted bar specials to stop seven days a week, but bars did not want to lose that business and conceded to end weekend drink specials voluntarily to avoid city sanctions.
""We think all the bars owners did here is what the city told them to do,"" O'Connor said. ""This is about the city and the university's perspective [which is] not necessarily shared by the bar owners, that certain type of [drinks] lead to instant intoxication '¦ think Wando's fish bowls here.""
Still, Uhr argued no ordinance was made by the city and for bars to say they were pressured plays into the conspiracy. He added that if bars want to stop receiving pressure about facilitating binge drinking, they should have a system in place to limit over-consumption.
""The problem isn't the pricing,"" Uhr said of the bars' policy. ""The problem is the over serving of patrons.""
According to O'Connor, the multimillion-dollar suit against the bars accomplishes nothing.
""It's a mountain out of a mole hill,"" O'Connor said, adding the bars have spent close to $600,000 defending their case.
The state Supreme Court's deliberation of the case is expected to take months.
