Hearing set on Iowa City bar owner's suit against city

A hearing on downtown Iowa City bar owner Mike Porter's recent lawsuit against the city of Iowa City has been set for Aug. 16 in Johnson County District Court.

Porter filed the suit against the city July 28, claiming the city wrongfully denied a request for one of his bars, The Summit, 10 S. Clinton St., to be exempted from the city's new ordinance requiring bar patrons to be 21 years old or older after 10 p.m.

In the lawsuit, Porter claimed the city deliberately targeted certain bars, including The Summit, which had previously allowed 19- and 20-year-olds on their premises after 10 p.m.  He said in the suit that he believes the city has, for some time, been targeting those bars in “an attempt to either put the 19-year-old bars out of business or force them to convert to 21-year-old bars."

City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes said the denial of The Summit's request for an exemption to the 21-only law was in accordance with the ordinance, and that the city will respond to his lawsuit in filings with the court.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

July 28 -- Iowa City bar owner sues city over 21-only law

July 21 column -- Owner's unreal bar fight