The bar lost its entertainment license for 5 days this week, with the remaining days held in abeyance.
The exterior of the Center Stage strip club is seen in downtown Springfield.SPRINGFIELD – A Superior Court judge has refused to grant a preliminary injunction sought by the owners of Center Stage, a downtown topless bar, that was seeking to keep the bar and entertainment going during its appeal of a 10-day license suspension.
Judge Richard J. Carey denied motions on Tuesday for the injunction and for a temporary restraining order sought by Center Stage lawyer Daniel D. Kelly.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno announced in May that he was suspending the bar’s entertainment license for 10 days as a result of a fight in March involving two underage patrons that left a police officer with a broken jaw.
While the bar technically could open and sell liquor, it could not provide any entertainment including music, televisions, video games and dancers, officials said.
Kelly said the bar did close under the suspension, with the initial five-day suspension beginning on Tuesday and continuing through Saturday, under Sarno’s decision.
The remaining five days are held in abeyance for a period of one year. If the bar stays out of trouble for the next year, the remaining five days will not have to be served, said Sarno spokesman Thomas T. Walsh.
Kelly said Center Stage continues to have a suit, challenging the suspension, that will be heard in the future, but the judge denied the petition for immediate relief.
The bar sympathizes with the officer who was injured while trying to break up the fight, Kelly said. However, the bar is “diligent” in checking the identification and ages of its patrons and was given a fake identification by the two underage patrons, he said.
While the entertainment license was suspended, the bar did not lose its liquor license, instead receiving a letter of reprimand from the License Commission, Kelly said.
“The culpability of the bar is minimum, if anything,” Kelly said.
Sarno disagreed, saying the underage patrons were allowed to drink without anyone verifying their age.
The city has an obligation to maintain order in downtown bars as a way of protecting patrons, employees and police, Sarno said.
The city was represented in court by city lawyer Stephen M. Reilly. The suspension of the entertainment license followed a hearing conducted by the Law Department.
One of the patrons, identified as Miguel Sosa, 20, of 769 Union St., was arrested, charged with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, threatening to commit a crime and giving a false name to a police officer.