Proposed final orders due Friday in Sunset Lounge trial
Both sides must file their proposed orders before the judge decides if Vita Lounge was wrongly disqualified from running Sunset Lounge
Both sides must file their proposed orders before the judge decides if Vita Lounge was wrongly disqualified from running Sunset Lounge
Both sides must file their proposed orders before the judge decides if Vita Lounge was wrongly disqualified from running Sunset Lounge
The deadline is Friday for both sides in the Sunset Lounge trial to file their proposed orders with the judge.
Vita Lounge, LLC sued the city of West Palm Beach to get back their winning bid to take over management of the historic lounge.
The city disqualified Vita two weeks after awarding it the bid saying it violated anti-lobbying rules.
The Sunset Lounge is a longtime jewel where famous Black entertainers such as Ella Fitzgerald entertained locals. The city recently renovated it at the cost of millions of dollars, and Vita Lounge won the bid to negotiate a management contract but was swiftly disqualified — and they sued.
The vice president of Vita Lounge, Darrin Cummings, testified last week that he didn’t violate the anti-lobbying provision in the request for proposal to run the Sunset Lounge.
People in the community did post on Facebook that they were in support of Cummings’ company, and they urged others to send emails or call the city commission.
But since Cummings nor anyone from Vita Lounge did so directly, they maintain they did not violate that provision.
The city’s lawyers say it doesn’t matter whether Cummings or his representatives actually contacted the commissioners because by having other people do it and commenting on one of the posts, they might as well have done it themselves.
The city also argued the judge should dismiss the whole case – claiming even if the city official who disqualified Vita did so arbitrarily or erroneously, previous case law shows a court has no jurisdiction over that decision
Judge Carolyn Bell did not rule yet on the motion for dismissal.
Neither final order has yet been filed, and once they are filed, it is unclear when Bell will issue her ruling.