A Florida judge sided with the Clevelander Hotel in its lawsuit against the Miami Beach Commission for mandating the entertainment district to have ‘last call’ at 2 a.m., ABC News reported Monday.
The city commission enforced the law for a period of seven months beginning May 22, according to ABC News. Prior to the law, businesses in the entertainment district reportedly served alcohol until 5 a.m.
A general view of the Clevelander Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Photo by Cliff Hawkins. Getty.
“It was arbitrary, it is a violation of local ordinances, and that was unlawful,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko said in a hearing Monday. Butchko said that Mayor Dan Gelber’s proposal, presented as an ordinance that required a simple majority vote, should have been implemented as a land-development regulation with broad commission support, according to the Miami Herald.
“Our residents should not be held prisoner to a business model that promotes the all-night hard partying that has generated an unsafe atmosphere in our city,” Gelber said in a statement, according to the Miami Herald. “We will appeal as it makes no sense, legal or otherwise, that the courts would force our residents to endure this kind of misconduct and disorder.” (RELATED: Report: Rappers Gucci Mane And Tyga Perform At Packed Party In Miami)
Kendall Coffey, the attorney representing the Clevelander, told the Miami Herald that he will need to draft an order for the city commission to review. The draft will then go back to the judge for approval, and the a.m. last-call mandate can be revoked.
“We would hope that the city would not attempt to enforce it in view of the judge’s ruling but technically speaking there is not yet a signed order,” Coffee told the Miami Herald.