A lawsuit accusing Madison taverns of price-fixing of alcohol drinks on weekends filed last year by three University of Wisconsin students continues as a decision will be made whether or not to end the case on a summary judgment.

The 24 bars involved in defense, including the Dane County Tavern League and almost all bars between Brothers and the State Bar and Grill, filed for a summary judgment Dec. 20, 2004.

If passed as a summary judgment, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Angela Bartell would decide the case without a jury.

According to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, Bartell will rule on the motion for a summary judgment this week.

"[They] laid out in the opinion enough facts to show they are innocent of the allegation and don't need a trial," Verveer said.

The three students' attorney, Steven Uhr, had one month to file a response brief to the motion for summary judgment, Verveer added. If Bartell ruled for the summary judgment, it would be up to Uhr to appeal. If she ruled against the summary judgment, the next step would be a trial.

"A trial would be many, many months down the road because there is so much pre-trial work that would be needed to be done," Verveer said.

Uhr said he is assuming Bartell will deny the motion for a summary judgment.

"We've gotten some documents from the university and basically it appears the allegations have been substantiated," Uhr said. "The defendants filed their summary judgment motion claiming the city forced them to do what they did."

According to Verveer's affidavit and deposition, he argued the bars were forced or pressured to engage in a voluntary weekend drink special ban.

The students responded to the defendant bars motion for summary judgment Feb. 4. According to the brief, the students are citing this case as an issue of "statutory construction" and not one concerned with "whether competition is a good thing or a bad thing in the tavern industry."

If the decision for a summary judgment is denied, Uhr said the first thing the plaintiffs will likely do is file a motion to allow the case to proceed as a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was originally filed as a class action antitrust lawsuit, but the request needs to be certified by the judge.

A class action lawsuit brings "the case on behalf of a group of individuals who we believe are damaged," Uhr said. Because the case was brought on behalf of a group, it must be proven that the facts will affect all members of the group in a similar manner, he added.

According to Uhr, in this case, the lawsuit has the potential to include "all persons … who have purchased alcoholic beverages from one or more of the defendant drinking establishments since Sept. 12, 2002" on a Friday or Saturday night after 8 p.m. Damages could surmount to "tens of millions of dollars."

According to the bars' response to the students' complaint, the thousands of individuals the students and their attorney hope to add to the lawsuit would create "a class of individuals allegedly injured because the defendants supposedly denied them drinks at a discounted price."