A lawsuit filed by Minneapolis lawyers Wednesday against all

local tavern owners who have participated in a voluntary weekend

drink-special ban expects to collect “tens of millions of dollars”

and put some of the money back into the hands of students who have

visited the targeted establishments since the ban began.

The ban began after the University of Wisconsin’s Policy,

Alternatives, Community and Education, or PACE Project, recommended

the creation of an ordinance to ban drink specials in downtown

bars.

Instead of making the ban public policy, a group of bar owners

decided to voluntarily ban weekend drink specials. These bar owners

are now being sued for their actions.

The lawsuit states four main objectives: to break up the Madison

Bar cartel, to return price competition to the business of selling

alcoholic beverages in downtown Madison, to uncover the full

duration, scope, nature of operation and economic impact of the

cartel and to recover and return to the victims of the cartel,

primarily UW students, the full measure of damages to which they

are lawfully entitled.

The case alleges any talk of banning drink specials at one

particular time is price fixing. It printed instances in which bar

owners such as the owner of the Nitty Gritty, Marsh Shapiro, stated

a group of bars would begin a ban on drink specials for the

weekend.

The lawsuit also cites an instance in which UW Chancellor John

Wiley stated the ban on specials may make the bars more

profitable.

The lawsuit, filed in state court targets the 24 bars

participating in the ban since it began in September 2002.

These establishments include: The Angelic Brewing Company,

Brothers, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bull Feathers, City Bar, Club Amazon,

Kollege Klub, Lava Lounge, The Church Key, Madhatters, the Nitty

Gritty, Paul’s Club, The Plaza, the Red Shed, Spices, the State,

State Street Brats, Stillwaters, the Vintage, Wando’s and the Irish

Pub.

The Tavern League is also cited as a defendant.

At present, UW is not a defendant. However, Jim Lockhart, one of

the prosecuting attorneys from the firm that filed the case,

Lomman, Nelson, Cole and Stageberg, said that could change.

“We have not sued the university,” Lockhart said. “At least not

yet.”

Lockhart and his team have collected class representatives for

the case, a group of three individuals who have visited the

targeted establishments since September 2002. The representatives

are UW junior Brian Dougherty, UW law student Nick Eichenseer and

Janesville resident Eric Stener. They will provide receipts from

bar visits and will meet with lawyers to discuss the downtown bars

and pricing.

The duration of the case, Lockhart said, depends upon a number

of different variables and is hard to estimate.

Chris Kambach, a manager at the Lava Lounge, said he had not

heard of the suit as of Wednesday afternoon. He said he did not

know of any plans to discontinue the ban on drink specials on the

weekends.

Dean Hetue, owner of the Plaza Tavern, said his tavern has never

offered weekend drink specials, so he does not consider his

establishment a member of the alleged cartel.

“I am not planning on contacting my lawyer,” Hetue said, adding

that he is going to wait and see what unfolds before he pursues

anything.

However, some bars are not as hopeful.

City Council President Mike Verveer said bar owners who he has

been in contact with are “scared and frustrated as a whole,” and

feel “burned.”

He said if anybody should be sued, it should be the university,

not the bar owners.

“I think it is utterly and totally ludicrous,” Verveer said.

Verveer predicted a judge would throw out the suit as soon as it

reached the courts. He maintained that the actions of the bar

owners were in no way monopolistic or illegal.

If the weekend drink-special ban would have gone to the City

Council and passed as an ordinance, like PACE requested, the ban

would not be considered illegal because it would have been law.

However, Verveer said he does not think the city should be involved

in setting prices for taverns and has no such plans to do so.

Verveer also said he did not think the lawsuit would return

money to bar patrons but rather just put an end to weekend drink

specials.

Others, such as UW law professor and anti-trust expert Peter

Carstensen, say the case is valid. He said if a group of Madison

bars agreed to raise prices, they are lucky they are only getting

sued civilly.

“People go to jail for doing that,” Carstensen said. “It is

illegal for competitors to agree on what they are going to do, no

matter how benign their alleged motives are.”

The lawsuit comes after a study conducted by PACE found that

since the beginning of the weekend drink specials, disorderly

conduct downtown increased by 38 percent on the weekends.