Attorneys talk with Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton, right, in Hamilton County Chancery Court concerning a revoked beer sales permit at Midtown Music Hall in this file photo from January. From left are Buddy Presley, Chattanooga City Attorney Kenneth Fritz, Timothy R. Simonds and Chancellor Atherton.
Midtown Music Hall in ChattanoogaA local judge has ruled that the Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board cannot revoke Midtown Music Hall’s beer permit on grounds that it is a “disorderly place.”
Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton signed his final order on the dispute Wednesday, which was entered into the public record Thursday.
The city can appeal the decision, but the city attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.
The order details complaints from both sides, which have been in dispute since the beer board revoked the club’s permit following a fight near the establishment on Aug. 14, 2011.
The board first tried to revoke the permit on the basis that the club had multiple violations, but Atherton ruled earlier this year that the violations did not happen within a 12-month period, a requirement under state law for revocation.
The board’s attorney, Ken Fritz, then asked the judge to hold up the revocation under the allegation that the club was running a “disorderly place.”
After multiple hearings and testimony from club owner Pete Waddington, club manager Anthony Byrd and the arresting officer who shut the club down during the August 2011 incident, Atherton ruled against the revocation.
“The court finds the ‘disorderly conduct’ [if any] took place outside of Midtown in shared parking lots and those incidents relied on/complained of were not adequately proven to be connected to Midtown,” Atherton wrote in his order.