Billiards and Brews “back” amid beer permit, liquor license suspension
Billiards and Brews said a judge signed a temporary order Monday allowing the bar to serve beer until a lawsuit is heard in court.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Billiards and Brews announced it is “back” on Facebook after the bar had its beer permit and liquor license suspended in February after receiving more than a dozen citations for staying open past the county’s 10 p.m. curfew, which was in place at the time.
Billiards and Brews said a judge signed a temporary order Monday involving the bar’s beer permit.
The owner, Richard Lawhorn, has retained a legal team.
“Today a Judge signed an injunction giving us our license back!! GREAT BEER SPECIALS Coming soon!!! Liquor license still pending. Hope to have it back soon!!,” the bar wrote in a Facebook post.
WVLT News obtained court documents that shows a judge granting the bar temporary ownership of the beer permit.
“We believe he (the judge) based his decision on the complaint against the City and the accompanying declaration of Richard Lawhorn, the owner of Billiards & Brews. Billiards & Brews brought this lawsuit to protect its constitutional rights as a small business owner,” Russ Egli, an attorney representing Lawhorn, told WVLT News Wednesday night.
The bar is suing the City of Knoxville, the Knoxville Police Department and the Knox County Health Department.
The bar has collected 18 citations for breaking the previous bar curfew, which resulted to the beer boards decision to suspended its permit for at least 75 days.
The basis of the said lawsuit, according to attorneys, claims the city and the board of health violated Lawhorn’s constitutional rights as a small business owner.
In order for the bar to get their beer permit back permanently, the case will have to be heard during a trial.
Billiards and Brews’ attorney said they aren’t just stopping at the bar getting its beer permit back, they are also suing the state to recover its liquor license.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon called the bar out previously by saying the bar was putting lives at risk.
“Billiards & Brews is by far the single most flagrant violator of the Board of Health’s pandemic safety measures,” Mayor Kincannon said. “Testimony from the Knoxville Police Department, in fact, showed that the bar’s 18 citations over three months set a record for the most in recent memory. The bar owner and managers repeatedly made conscious decisions to violate the law, and those decisions - during a health emergency that has killed more than 500 Knox County residents - put our community unnecessarily in greater danger.”
WVLT News has been in contact with Billiards and Brew’s owner who has said in the past he was against the curfew and would fight for his rights until the end.
The suit against the city, county and state is moving forward.
This is a developing story.
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