The Utah Hospitality Association sued in federal court, claiming Utah’s law prohibiting establishments from offering discounted drinks or happy hour violates the Sherman Act, which protects against anticompetitive conduct.
The lawsuit was dismissed this week after the parties settled their dispute, according to court records.
Allen Whittle, the association’s vice president and owner of Bogeys Social Club, said the state agreed to allow establishments to change their drink prices daily, but they’re still not allowed to advertise them as specials or discounts.
He claimed that the settlement is a partial victory but said the group might sue again over the ban on advertising, claiming it is a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
“We disagree with it, but that’s what they’re telling us we have to do,” he said Wednesday. “We just can’t call them discounts or specials.
“Happy hour has been illegal in the state for years,” he added. “We were just fighting to have drink specials and basically be able to change our pricing daily if we want to.”
An initial lawsuit was dismissed in March by a federal judge who cited a lack of evidence proving Utah’s existing liquor laws hurt businesses. The association filed an amended complaint the next month, and the state again sought a dismissal.
ILLINOIS
Witness: 4th wife mulled extorting Drew Peterson
JOLIET — A lawyer says Drew Peterson’s fourth wife asked him shortly before she vanished about whether she could squeeze more money out of her husband in divorce proceedings if she threatened to tell police he had killed his third wife.
Harry Smith’s testimony Wednesday at the former Illinois police officer’s murder trial came as the defense sought to counter allegations Mr. Peterson killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.
Savio’s death was reclassified from an accident to a homicide after Mr. Peterson’s fourth wife disappeared in 2007.
Mr. Smith testified that Stacy Peterson had called him and asked, in Mr. Smith’s words, “if the fact that [Drew Peterson] killed [Savio] could be used against him.”
The defense wants to dent the credibility of testimony from someone who said Stacy Peterson implicated her husband in Savio’s death.
ARIZONA
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