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Civil liberties firm backs restaurateur fined for letting patrons dance
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The Pinal County restaurant fined for allowing patrons to dance gained a legal ally this week, as a nonprofit public-interest law firm has stepped in to handle the eatery’s appeal.
Officials with the Institute for Justice say Pinal County “is becoming a national laughingstock” because of the case.
A Pinal County hearing officer ruled in January that San Tan Flat owner Dale Bell must pay $5,000 for every day his patrons dance at his open-air steakhouse near Queen Creek. The hearing officer determined that Bell was violating county code and running a “dance hall” instead of a restaurant because dancing is taking place in the outdoor portion of the restaurant.
“This is really an embarrassment to the state of Arizona — essentially people can sway to music but they can’t move their feet,” said Institute for Justice attorney Jennifer Perkins, who will be lead counsel on the San Tan Flat case. “We’re going to ... protect Dale’s rights and those of his customers because the county has failed to do so.”
The appeal hearing is scheduled for May 2, said County Attorney Seymour Gruber.
Gruber said he was told Friday that the Institute for Justice would be taking the appeal but had not seen the paperwork and couldn’t comment.
Bell said he’s already spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. And depending on how far the case goes, he said, the Institute for Justice could save him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s a real blessing to have an organization that really was formed in defending regular citizens’ constitutional rights,” Bell said. “From everything I have heard about the Institute for Justice, this is a classic case for them and is exactly why they were formed — to stop the abuse of government.”
Perkins said the organization only takes cases where the government interferes with citizens’ basic rights.
“Simply put, we sue the government when it stands in the way of people trying to earn an honest living, when it unconstitutionally takes away individuals’ property, when bureaucrats instead of parents dictate the education of children and when government stifles speech,” she said.
“We believe (the San Tan Flat case) is truly a frightening example of an outrageous government use of power,” Perkins said. “Dale has a right to earn honest living free from unreasonable government regulations.”
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