Final Dream Nite Club lawsuit against Ann Arbor dismissed by federal judge

By Ben Freed Business Reporter

Posted on Sat, Jun 23, 2012 : 5:55 a.m.

Realtors at Colliers International say they do not plan on finding another nightclub to occupy the now-closed Dream Nite Club.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman dismissed the last of the lawsuits brought against the City of Ann Arbor by owners and creditors of the now-closed Dream Nite Club.

The suit, the third to be thrown out in a four-week span, claimed that the city owed the former owners of the club $3 million for civil rights violations.

“The federal court fully recognized that the Plaintiffs’ claims were without any factual or legal merit. The City and the police did nothing wrong when they properly moved to file a public nuisance action in state court against the Dream Nightclub in June 2011 after continued acts of violence,” City Attorney Stephen K. Postema said in an email.

VR Entertainment Inc., the operator of Dream Nite Club, was evicted from the property, owned by Dean Zahn Properties LLC, on May 4 for nonpayment.

The space has been listed by Colliers International and property continued to be removed from the building as recently as Friday morning.

A suit filed by the owners against the city claiming failure to provide due process was thrown out June 6, and a similar suit by one of its creditors was dismissed two weeks prior.

The owners and creditors of the store had alleged that the city had harassed the nightclub’s customers because of their racial diversity and had harassed the club because it attracted a diverse audience. The city has maintained throughout the process that they

“The Mayor and Council have always been concerned about the safety of those who frequent downtown establishments. The City Attorney’s office will always vigorously defend the City and the police -Â in any court - from these types of false allegations,” Postema said in an email.

“This is the final blow to the Nightclub as the City has dealt with all sorts of legal contortions from the Nightclub since January. The federal court today gave the Dream Nightclub a much needed dose of legal reality concerning its baseless claims.”