On the same day an Ector County judge filed a temporary restraining order against Jaguars, the corporate owners of the adult entertainment club sought a TRO against the City of Odessa and the Odessa Police Department in U.S. Federal Court. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge David Counts signed off on a temporary 14-day TRO negotiated between the two parties.
The TRO stipulates the following certain conditions must be met:
- The City of Odessa must process Jaguars’ application to operate as a sexually oriented business.
- Jaguars can operate as a “bikini bar” and will not feature any nudity.
- Jaguars will fire anyone who violates the sexually oriented business ordinance three or more times.
- Jaguars must promptly report any “breaches of the peace, unlawful firearm possession, assault or any other crime involving violence on the premises.”
- Jaguars must ban people engaging in such unlawful conduct from the premises for one year.
- Jaguars must implement additional alcohol training for staff and hire a staff member specifically to monitor the level of alcohol being consumed by patrons.
- Jaguars must provide patrons found to be intoxicated on the premises with a safe means of transportation, including the cost of a taxi or other ride share.
- Jaguars’ local management must have monthly meetings with OPD and they must disclose all internal reports made that may have been unreported to law enforcement. The intent is to “identify areas of improvement or gaps in the party’s response to providing a safe place of business.”
- Jaguars must send an IT specialist to assist the City of Odessa with accessing information contained on servers and DVRs that were previously seized. The city must return those items to Jaguars within 24 hours of accessing the information.
- The City of Odessa shall tell Ector County District Attorney Dusty Gallivan about the TRO.
- OPD will still be allowed to conduct its ordinary law enforcement activities in and around Jaguars.
In two weeks, the parties can ask for the TRO to be turned into a preliminary injunction.
On July 10, OPD officers arrested 18 people on a misdemeanor charge after receiving tips that Jaguars was operating as a sexually oriented business despite allowing its SOB permit to lapse back in April.
According to an Odessa Police Department news release, attorneys for the business, which is located on Cargo Road, had informed city officials they were no longer a sexually oriented business and were instead operating as a “bikini bar.”
On July 21, Ector County Court at Law No. 2 Judge Christopher Clark issued a TRO at the request of Gallivan.
The judge gave Jaguars’ owners or staff 14 days to modify their behavior to prevent criminal activity from occurring.
According to Gallivan’s petition for the TRO, “defendants knowingly tolerate, and have failed to make reasonable efforts to abate, the criminal activities at Jaguars, and instead have enjoyed a steady stream of income from overly intoxicated patrons who conduct these illegal activities on the premises.”
During the three-year period from July 14, 2019 to July 14, 2022, Gallivan alleged OPD has been summoned to Jaguars on Cargo Road 150 times and made more than 100 arrests. Officers have responded to fights in progress, shots fired, aggravated assaults, alcohol-related crashes and drug-related calls. He further alleged acts of prostitution have taken place at Jaguars and intoxicated people have participated in “deviant behavior” there.
On that same day, Jaguars’ attorneys went to federal court and asked the court for a temporary restraining order alleging the city and OPD has violated the club’s First Amendment right, Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, Fifth Amendment “right to remain silent” and 14th Amendment right guaranteeing “equal protection” under the law.
According to the club’s pleadings, erotic dancing falls under the First Amendment and its employees aren’t nude when they dance, they wear boy shorts and bikini tops. They alleged the city and OPD had “expanded the definition of ‘nude’ beyond the statutory text.”
In addition, the club’s attorneys alleged OPD targeted the club and ignored other clubs where “publicly available information depicts employees of these other businesses attired in a way far closer to the ordinance’s definition of nudity.”
In their court documents, Jaguars’ attorney accused the city and OPD of “terrorizing” the club’s employees and patrons during an unlawful search and seizure of their persons and the property July 10. They further alleged OPD obtained its warrant “on the demonstrably false assertion” the club was operating as a sexually oriented business.
The city violated the club’s 14th Amendment right by seizing its property, the lawyers alleged.
“Second, Jaguars Odessa is sustaining the ongoing loss of business as it cannot reopen in light of defendants’ threats and action,” court documents stated.
Attorneys for both the city and Jaguars met on Friday, the proposed TRO was submitted Wednesday and Counts signed it late Wednesday afternoon.
Gallivan said he has been made aware of the federal temporary restraining order.
“I think everything is moving in the right direction and I anticipate that agreement will take care of our TRO,” Gallivan said.
By that, Gallivan said he thinks the restraining order in state court will be allowed to expire next week.
While so-called “nuisance” lawsuits have been filed locally in the past, they’ve involved bars rather than strip clubs, Gallivan said.
Such lawsuits have been “absolutely” successful in resolving issues, Gallivan said.
