Adult club shutdown costs Jackson $38K in lawyers fees

In 2006, when Frank Melton was Jackson's mayor, the city shut down the adult entertainment Babes Showclub.

Now, nine years later, the city is still paying for shutting down the club. A federal judge recently ruled the city owes attorneys for the club more than $38,000 for their work on behalf of club owners who successfully sued the city.

The City Council agreed Tuesday to pay attorney fees of $32,895 to Luke Charles Lirot of Clearwater, FL, and $5,495 to Chris Ganner of Jackson.

"This is an order of a federal judge," City Attorney Monica Joiner said of the attorney fees.

No reason is given for the approximately six year time lapse since Babes' owners won the lawsuit and the awarding of attorney fees.

In 2009, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ruled after a two-day federal trial that the city had violated the rights of Babes' owners when the club was forced to shut down March 11, 2006 after police cited it for having an invalid adult entertainment license

An order by Wingate about a month after the club closed, allowed the club to reopen.

Wingate granted Babes' request for a restraining order, saying the city violated its own adult entertainment ordinance by not acting on the club's application for a license in a timely manner and by granting the club temporary licenses, which the ordinance does not allow.

Three years later, Wingate ruled during the trial ruled in Babes' favor. He granted J & B Entertainment a total of $84,574,36 in damages for the 24 days the club was closed and the four months that the club spent re-establishing itself. It also allowed the owners to recover its taxable costs, including attorney fees.

The late Melton, known for taking things into his own hands as mayor, had said several times he wanted to rid the city of topless bars.

In addition to shutting down Babes, Melton was known to be involved in several controversial acts as mayor.

He and two body guards, along with a group of young males, were accused of raiding what Melton called a drug house and smashing the outside of the house, leaving a gaping hole in the exterior. Melton participated in random searches of vehicles for drugs or guns, attempted to bring his handguns past airport security and onto commercial flights; his declaration of a state of emergency over the city's violent crime rate, requesting the Mississippi National Guard be called in to help.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.