Bars, clubs forced to drop promotions in face of lawsuits

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | 8/3/03 | Alex Roth

[TastyManatees]

Bars, clubs forced to drop promotions in face of lawsuits

By Alex Roth UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

It might seem like a harmless marketing stunt, although some lawyers will tell you it's an insidious form of anti-male discrimination. Either way, it's now history in the Gaslamp Quarter. Several local bars and clubs have been forced to drop their so-called ladies night discount-for-women promotions in response to a series of lawsuits claiming the practice discriminates against men.

Lawyers quietly settled all the suits last month. Seven nightspots in the Gaslamp and elsewhere in San Diego County agreed to pay a total of $125,000 to two men who accused them of violating a decades-old California civil-rights law.

Gone are the Thursday promotions at Olé Madrid on Fifth Avenue, whereby women – and only women – were allowed free entry before 11 p.m. Gone are the occasional cover-charge discounts for women at the 5ifth Quarter bar down the block. As a result of the settlement, there's now a permanent halt to similar marketing gimmicks at the Martini Ranch and Have A Nice Day Cafe in the Gaslamp, the Pure Nightclub in Kearny Mesa, Fusion dance club in Escondido and Neimans in Carlsbad.

In court filings, lawyers for the two men called ladies night promotions "a pervasive problem throughout California."

All of which sounds pretty ridiculous to Robert Lane, a co-owner of the 5ifth Quarter, who said his nightspot offered the promotions for a simple reason: They're good for business.

"Guys are going to come wherever the women are," Lane said.

The lawsuits were filed earlier this year on behalf of two men who spent time trying to get ladies night discounts at a variety of bars and nightclubs, only to be rebuffed and "laughed at," according to the suits.

One of the men is a California Western School of Law classmate of the two lawyers who filed the suits on their behalf. The other is a paralegal.

When asked about the social merits of these lawsuits, Erik Jenkins, one of the attorneys who filed the suits, made comparisons between ladies night discounts and the discrimination faced by African-Americans in the South.

Asked whether he plans to file any more such suits around the state, Jenkins said, "I couldn't get into our plans for future lawsuits without divulging confidential client information."

...

[TastyManatees]

Wow. I am an attorney, and this makes me dislike attorneys. Astounding. Tasty Manatees

[Dog Gone]

Discounts for children also must be illegal. I'm going to sue.

[Dog Gone]

Hey, and those Senior Citizen discounts. Blatantly discriminatory.

I'm going to make a fortune. Yippee!

[CatoRenasci]

Well, in law school they told us that hard cases make bad law.

This is more like bad cases make hard feelings.

[Lazamataz]

TastyManatees

Everyone's got a cool screen name but me. :o(

[StatesEnemy]

Discounts for children also must be illegal.

Are you equating women with children?

Why shouldn't women pay the same as men for a night out?

[TastyManatees]

"Lazamataz" is cool. Don't let the other kids get you down! Tasty Manatees

[steplock]

Just more reasons to ban lawyers from EVERYTHING --- Especially in the government.

[Dog Gone]

I dunno, why are women's blouses three times as expensive as a man's shirt made of the same material?

[Admin Moderator]

Use original title only. Thank you.

[ThirdMate]

Because it is usually men who are paying for their dates. Now we will have to pay double.

[StatesEnemy]

Besides... Does this chick:

look like she needs any more 'free of charge' empty calories?

[Lazamataz]

Don't let the other kids get you down!

But they keep on giving me noogies and hanging me from my underwear on the jungle gym and taking my lunch money and stuff.

Can't I just bring an automatic weapon to school and even the score just once, can't I, can't I, can't I, huh huh huh?

[yankeedame]

Why shouldn't women pay the same as men for a night out?

Why shouldn't a business owner have the right to run his business the way he see fit? Why should the "fairness rights" of these two characters trump the property rights of the owners?

[Lazamataz]

What's so wrong with her??? Sheesh. She ain't fat, she's a little plump with an ample chest, just like I like 'em.

[Lazamataz]

Because it is usually men who are paying for their dates. Now we will have to pay double.

I haven't paid for a date since 1997.

Of course, I haven't HAD a date since 1997.

[olorin]

Your analogy does not follow. Children grow up to be adults (and all adults were children once), whereas women do not become men or vice versa (generally speaking).

[StatesEnemy]

A lil plump?? There's rolls under that dress.

[SerpentDove]

File this under: "Lousing it up for everybody."

[Dog Gone]

What's so wrong with her??? Sheesh. She ain't fat, she's a little plump with an ample chest, just like I like 'em.

I think it's the fact that she's trying to pick up another chick.