(Access to gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-modifies-covid-19 decrees-to-eliminate-confinement-as-punishment, 7 May 2020, 16:00). The defendant is now of the view that the plaintiff can only open as a restaurant and that it is prohibited from offering other entertainment services of a sexual nature. The court has scheduled an injunction for May 8, 2020. The plaintiff filed a brief in support of his application for an injunction. (Instrument No. 5). The defendant filed a reply on 8 May 2020. (Instrument No. 10). Jaguar artists had to pay $30 or more for each shift, whether customers were present or not, the lawsuit said. Jaguars also required the dancers to contribute to an “illegal tipping pool” that included employees such as the DJ, security and management, according to the court record. These arrangements meant that dancers could bring home good tips on busy evenings.

Despite the case for abolishing strip clubs, the law cannot condemn all bad behavior. Public policies should specifically target actual harm. Houston`s sexual trade ordinance may have banned explicit activities such as topless dancing or dancing on the knees, but it doesn`t do much else. As the industry grows, so does the number of lawsuits that pile up against it. In the United States, dancers have been suing for more than a decade to deny how they are paid. A review of 2019 Federal District Court data by Bloomberg Law found that from 2005 to September 30, 2019, exotic dancers filed 406 wage and hourly lawsuits against illegal club practices and wage recovery. Since then, dozens of other lawsuits have been filed in Federal Courts in Texas. The exact number is difficult to track because many clubs are owned by corporations and not all cases are properly classified as pay and hourly disputes by federal court clerks. Each individual case in Federal Court can represent a handful or hundreds of dancers, as artists past and present in a club often sign up to join a lawsuit. The case filed against the Jaguars in Harlingen is a “class action lawsuit” that includes all the artists who danced at the club for three years prior to the filing date. The case against jaguars is still pending. A federal judge ruled Friday that Houston arbitrarily refused to let a strip club join a regulation allowing dancing on topless knees, and criticized the city for seeking a court order forcing the club to close.

The agreement exempts these clubs from obtaining licenses to operate the city and exempts their dancers from a non-contact rule that allows them to perform topless lap dances. In one case, Onyx Houston, a restaurant and strip club, reopened on May 1 with masked staff, hand sanitizer stations, guests practicing social distancing, and occupancy restrictions. The dancers provided entertainment at a safe distance — no lap dances, according to the complaint in the case. Houston police and firefighters raided the business and eventually shut down operations, threatening to arrest and charge the owner with a Class B offense, he said. Feldman, who began working on the settlement in the spring, said the concept grew out of a legal battle between the city and major strip club Treasures. In 2012, the city and the Harris County District Attorney`s Office sued the owner of Treasures, accusing the facility of harboring prostitution, drugs, illegal weapons and sexual assault. Under the terms of the agreement, the city agreed to cease applying the 3-foot rule and expressly authorized lap dance. Each of the 16 clubs involved in the settlement is involved in one or more of the three current legal disputes with the city over restrictions on relations with sexual businesses. “(The deal) will save a significant amount of legal and police resources,” said the city`s attorney, David Feldman, noting that the city has spent millions of dollars over the past 16 years to enforce the regulations. “It will also give us a head start in the fight against (human) trafficking.” It`s a “Mexican brothel bar” here in Dallas, says local activist Mary Lou Zijderveld, who lives near Walnut Hill Lane and has long fought clubs.

Grassroots opponents who ordered close-contact lap dance infiltration videos in Baby Dolls are calling for an immediate crackdown by the city`s vice-cops under the law, technically or not. But the hidden camera video was just the latest salvo in activists` 15-year crusade to shut down a group of clubs along the West Northwest Highway in the once-thriving Bachman Lake area. Even though there is a lot to rent in their deal with the city, there is little to like in strip clubs. Any beauty that exists in erotic dance is obscured by layers of exploitation and oppression. Dancers pay for stage time and many basic occupational health and safety measures are lacking. Crime thrives under the dark red lights as clubs become hotbeds not only because of sin, but also because of illegality. A First Amendment purist might certainly find expressive speech in dancing on a topless artist`s lap at 2 a.m., but we suspect it would be easier to find illegal drugs, excessive alcohol, and international sex trafficking. If you want artistic erotic dance, check out Houston`s award-winning burlesque troupes instead.