Vita Lounge LLC won its lawsuit against the city of West Palm Beach to get back its winning bid to take over the Sunset Lounge."Specifically, Vita sought to have the Court determine whether the CRA improperly disqualified it as the winning proposer for the operation of the Sunset Lounge," according to the final lawsuit judgement. Because Darrin Cummings, the general manager of the Sunset Community Group, took part in lobbying, emails and news interviews without the consent of the city, an unelected government employee reporting to the West Palm Beach City Attorney wrote the disqualification letter."During the Plaintiff’s case-in-chief, the Court heard credible testimony that certain of the allegations relied upon by Mr. Bassar were incorrect," the final judgement said.It was stated in the trial that Bassar was the sole decision maker in disqualifying Vita and at no time before the letter was sent did he reach out to Vita or the city about any allegations.The court had to decide whether the disqualification was proper and lawful. "The Court finds it was not," the final judgement states. "The City urges the Court to find that, as long as Mr. Bassar was acting in good faith, the Court must defer to his decision. The City asserts that in order to invalidate Mr. Bassar’s decision, the Court must find evidence of illegality, fraud, oppression or misconduct."The court found that Bassar sent the letter after the fact that he had decided there had been reasons for disqualifications on an interpretation of rules that "may have been unconstitutional and therefore illegal.""The Court finds that the decision to disqualify Vita was not made in good faith, and therefore declares the CRA’s disqualification to be invalid," the document states.The court decided that Vita is not disqualified and that the city must negotiate with them for a contract for the operation of the Sunset Lounge.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. To read the full lawsuit, click here.