News In Brief : Club Wins Court Round
The Jonathan Club can continue a federal court challenge to a new Los Angeles ordinance that forces the exclusive club to admit women members, a judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Curtis denied a request by the city to dismiss the suit, which was filed a day after the city sued the club in Superior Court to force compliance with the law.
Attorneys for the 93-year-old club, where women still are banned from using the second-floor bar and grill, have maintained that the city’s ordinance is unconstitutional.
The city’s lawsuit accuses the club of denying female members and guests “full and equal enjoyment of facilities at the club on the basis of sex.”
Curtis rejected a motion by the city to withhold his decision pending a Supreme Court decision on a similar New York law.
In an 11-page written ruling, Curtis said both the state and federal actions may proceed in parallel. A federal court should not abdicate its jurisdiction in a case unless an “important countervailing interest” shows it should be heard in state court, Curtis said.
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