Posted on 10/11/2005 5:55:18 PM PDT by SJackson
It's one of those lawsuits that produces guffaws from those who read or hear about it, but it is anything but funny to the people who must bear its brunt.
Marsh Shapiro of the Nitty Gritty called me the other morning to tell me he hadn't slept the previous night. He and other downtown bar owners had just learned that the lawsuit they had succeeded in getting thrown out of state court last year has been resurrected, this time filed in federal court.
It's the suit that claims the bars near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus conspired to fix drink prices, thereby overcharging money-strapped college kids who wanted to relax with a few drinks now and then.
Shapiro said the bars paid more than $450,000 in legal costs to get the first case dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Angela Bartell and he can't imagine how he and the other family-owned campus area taverns can afford more expenses like that.
The pity is that all the owners did was try to cooperate with the UW and Chancellor John Wiley's campaign against binge drinking. That campaign included getting the bars to agree to eliminate drink specials, which Wiley insists contribute to students' overindulging.
So after a series of contentious meetings a few years back and at the urging of city officials who waved the power of granting liquor licenses in their faces, the bars reluctantly agreed to quit offering specials on Friday and Saturday nights in an effort to attract business to their places.
Gone were the big "fishbowl" drinks at Wanda's and the Long Island Iced Tea concoctions at reduced prices or two-for-one happy hours. Some 20 campus area bars joined the pledge. Then came the suit filed by a Minneapolis law firm on behalf of "overcharged" students. So much for being Mr. Nice Guys.
Judge Bartell eventually threw it out of court, but not before depositions, interrogatories, briefs and other filings rang up legal fees totaling $450,000.
Now the new suit by the same Minneapolis law firm not only covers the drink special ban period, but goes further to claim the bars were in cahoots on fixing drink prices throughout the 1990s. And that means more depositions and legal machinations will have to take place again if the bars are to defend themselves.
The bar owners are convinced that the suits are plain and simple bald-faced attempts to get a nice payday for lawyers at their expense.
Doug Moe of our paper called the first suit stupid. And so is this one. As Doug said about the first suit, "As for the plaintiffs, were they really such rubes that they would pick a bar and a drink at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night because the chosen bar and drink might save them 50 cents? Did they really feel wronged?"
Perhaps some had to pay a bit more for a particular drink, but if they did, they're blaming the wrong people.
The bottom line, though, is that our system is terribly messed up if it costs the wrong people that much to prove it.
Survey ranks UW-Madison top party school
NEW YORK (AP) -- The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named the country's top party school in a survey of 110,000 college students.
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is ranked 16th on the latest party school list compiled by the Princeton Review.
The Princeton Review has released its 2006 edition of "The Best 361 Colleges." The survey ranks the top 20 colleges in 62 different categories ranging from best academic, to toughest to get into, to most beautiful campus.
The top academic school is Reed College in Portland Oregon. Reed also ranks as the least religious of all the schools.
The most religious is Brigham Young University, which is also the top stone-cold sober school for the eighth straight year.
Study author Rob Franek says the book is designed to help college-bound high school students make a more informed college choice.
" First, kill all the lawyers"
Billy Bob Shakespeare
Indeed. I'm surprised the first suit got thrown out. I recall reading this a year or two ago and thought that the students had a pretty solid case.
But, of course, cases like this just go to show why antitrust laws are stupid. Repeal has been long overdue, and unfortuntely Congress won't do the job. Antitrust has a nice PR machine.
First of all, it was Dick the Butcher, not William Shakespeare. Second of all, if the lawyers win, I'll buy them all drinks.
"The pity is that all the owners did was try to cooperate with the UW and Chancellor John Wiley's campaign against binge drinking. That campaign included getting the bars to agree to eliminate drink specials, which Wiley insists contribute to students' overindulging."
Gosh - do 6 for 1 drink specials really encourage binge drinking?
I have fond memories of drinking on State Street, but for the life of me, I can't recall any of them.
I can't remember if that was T.S. Eliot or Gary Larson
I've had many a fishbowl at Wando's but I have no idea what this Wanda's is. I'm sorry but the bar scene is so much a part of college life in Madison, I'm glad I finished school just before this stuff started to go through. A Fishbowl is a group activity, usually participated in with 3 to 6 people. It's not, "let's drink a fishbowl", it's, "let's do a fishbowl".
A fishbowl is literally a medium sized fishbowl filled with an alcoholic punch and ice.
Reminds me of the ban on bottled beer at my college, ostensibly for "safety"....which led to many people switching to cheap canned beers-------that is, quantity replacing quantity.
Ugh.
1) It is NO business of UW's or Chancellor Wiley's what the students do off campus.
2) By agreeing amongst themselves not to offer specials, they have committed unlawful collusion that effectively results in price fixing.
The University should devote more effort to education and less to social engineering, and bar owners should try to sell more drinks. Period.
bump...
Publius Valerius: Indeed. I'm surprised the first suit got thrown out. I recall reading this a year or two ago and thought that the students had a pretty solid case.But, of course, cases like this just go to show why antitrust laws are stupid. Repeal has been long overdue, and unfortuntely Congress won't do the job. Antitrust has a nice PR machine.
clee1:
1) It is NO business of UW's or Chancellor Wiley's what the students do off campus.2) By agreeing amongst themselves not to offer specials, they have committed unlawful collusion that effectively results in price fixing.
The University should devote more effort to education and less to social engineering, and bar owners should try to sell more drinks. Period.
Personally I think there’s a place for antitrust legislation, imo collusion on pricing is a good example.
This seems to be a classic case, perfect for Econ 101. The only thing I don’t understand is why Chancellor Wiley and the University aren’t among the defendents.
Looks like everybody loses.
Looks like everybody loses.
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