Legal process continues in bars lawsuit, Fifth Amendment asserted

RACINE The federal lawsuit brought against the city by former owners of five shuttered Racine bars is continuing its slow march toward trial, but attorneys are still deep within the information-gathering process known as discovery. Meanwhile, one defendant has taken the Fifth Amendment for some claims.

Filed first on Feb. 25, and then amended on Aug. 21, the lawsuit accuses Mayor John Dickert and close to a dozen other defendants of engaging in an elaborate plot to drive minority tavern owners out of the city, violating the bar owners constitutional and civil rights, and running afoul of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO.

In addition to claiming minority bar owners were held to different standards than their white counterparts, the lawsuit accuses some Racine City Tavern League members of engaging in an elaborate effort to bankroll Dickerts mayoral campaigns that resulted in minority-owned bars being targeted, and their licenses freed up for white bar owners.

When the suit was first filed, there were 20 defendants and eight plaintiffs. Since then one of the plaintiffs Cerafin C. Davalos, the owner of the former Ceras Tequila Bar has been dropped from the complaint, as have eight of the original defendants, including the tavern league itself.

Although attorneys for the remaining municipal defendants continue to deny the allegations, the case has proceeded to the discovery process.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller ruled in November that while the civil rights conspiracy claims in the lawsuit should be dismissed, the RICO claims made against the municipal defendants and private defendant Doug Nicholson should proceed to discovery along with the civil rights complaints.

Discovery began in earnest in November. The process, whereby plaintiffs and defendants can obtain evidence from the opposing party, is expected to wind on for several months, said Michael J. Cohen of Meissner, Tierney, Fisher & Nichols S.C., the attorney for the city, Dickert, and 10 other municipal defendants.

There is quite a bit of it that has been requested particularly from the municipal defendants, Cohen said. I wouldnt be surprised if it ends up being 2 million pages of paper that (the plaintiffs) have requested including electronic information.

On Jan. 6 Stadtmueller honored a request by both parties to keep certain personal information contained in the documents such as Social Security numbers of the parties, or identifying information of those not named in the suits, such as witnesses in police reports sealed to public.

But attorneys for the defendants havent spent all their time filling document requests and preparing for depositions. They have also filed answers to the plaintiffs amended complaint.

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Legal process continues in bars lawsuit, Fifth Amendment asserted