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."

...

[FroedrickVonFreepenstein]

So if I want to charge black patrons at my resaurant 3 times as much as white patrons that is my right?

[Lazamataz]

Well I guess my range of acceptable women is wider than yours.

Which means I'll get more than you. HA! HA! HA! HA!

[Lazamataz]

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

So, if she brings home a playmate to share, you're gonna bar her from bed....?

I didn't think so.

[StatesEnemy]

It amazes me that freepers are actually supporting this obvious form of 'Affirmative Action'

[TastyManatees]

Sorry about that. I'll make sure to do that from now on.

[StatesEnemy]

Quantity vs Quality I guess....

[Lazamataz]

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

I took another look at her tummy.

I'm glad I'm me and not you. There's nothing at all wrong with that woman.

[SerpentDove]

Your screen name is cool. And your tagline is hilarious.

[7thson]

Back in the mid-80's in Norfolk, Va., there was a pizza place called Pantera's Pizza. On Sundays, you could watch football games and have all you can eat pizza. I think pitchers of beer was 75 cents or some discount for service members. Of course, some locals complained and the place stopped the service members discount. Always someone complaining about something.

[xsmommy]

me too!

[Admin Moderator]

Thanks.

[ThirdMate]

You have a streak going. Don't break it now.

[Trailerpark Badass]

So if I want to charge black patrons at my resaurant 3 times as much as white patrons that is my right?

Why not? As long as no fraud is commited, why shouldn't a business owner have the right to manage his private property as he sees fit?

[Trailerpark Badass]

It amazes me that freepers are actually supporting this obvious form of 'Affirmative Action'

It amazes me that a Freeper can't distinguish between private property in a free market and a government program that taxpayers are forced to pay for.

Even more astounding are the number of Freepers who go all liberal when private property rights are defended.

[AAABEST]

This is what happens when you make private businesses a "pubic accomodation", as the SC did with their anti-individual, American hating decision years ago.

This is just going to get worse and worse as every "class" finds a way to use the business owners private property for their own means. Now it's just racial, gender, smoking and other groups.

Scumbag lawyers will see to it that everyone gets to rip into every private business owner's livelihood, with them getting the biggest slice of pie.

[TastyManatees]

Good idea. Say, wonder why it was that the first thing communists did in every country they came to power in was to kill all the lawyers? I think it's easy to confuse lawyers dedicated to protecting the individual from the power of the state with those dedicated to lining their own pockets with the power of the state. Sometimes, it's a thin line that we have to pay a lot of attention to to make sure we don't cross it. Tasty Manatees

[TontoKowalski]

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

The real intent of "Ladies' Night" isn't intended to discriminate against men. It's to benefit men.

The more ladies in the bar, the more opportunities to pick up.

During my wild and crazy single days (ah, the memories) me and the boys always went to bars that had Ladies' Night.

[FroedrickVonFreepenstein]

You know, your right. I think I'll fire all my workers who are American citizens and bring in "undocumented workers" from Mexico. I'll put them up in a tin shed behind the establishement and pay them a dollar a day. That coupled with my new race-based pricing ought to increase profits exponentially.

[LexBaird]

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?

Now, now, Laz. Everyone knows automatic weapons are evil. Take the shotgun.

[hotpotato]

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."

Extortion against businesses providing senior citizen discounts, maybe?