‘It’s business as usual’ at The Bottle Shop as court battle rages

The ongoing battle involving a Bradley Park liquor store took another legal turn late Wednesday when the Georgia Court of Appeals stayed a lower court decision that had closed the business, allowing The Bottle Shop to reopen.

The Bottle Shop opened in November 2016 under a legal cloud raised by a competitor over whether or not a nearby child care center should be classified as a school. The liquor store at 610 Bradley Park Drive is less than 600 feet from The Growing Room, a for-profit, child care facility that takes state funding for its pre-K program.

“The status now is we’re open for business as usual,” The Bottle Shop co-owner Miles Jordan said Thursday morning as the store reopened after being closed for a week.

There has been little that has been “usual” about this situation, which has been played out in the courts over the past year. And the legal fight appears to be a long way from over.

On Nov. 10, 2016, Columbus attorney Steve Hodges, representing P&J Beverages owned by his wife, Pat Daniel, sought an injunction in Muscogee County Superior Court to halt The Bottle Shop’s opening. The case was heard by Bibb County Senior Judge Bryant Culpepper, who was assigned it after local judges recused themselves because of a variety of conflicts of interest.

Culpepper did not immediately rule and The Bottle Shop opened on Nov. 18, despite a warning from the judge that the case had not been decided. The business is the largest of the city’s nearly two dozen stores with more than 15,000 square feet of floor space.

On March 23, Culpepper determined that the Growing Room was a school and on April 6 he issued the final order closing The Bottle Shop, City Attorney Clifton Fay said.

The Bottle Shop, which employs 23 people, closed a day before the ruling was finalized but almost immediately, with the city of Columbus as its legal partner, returned to the courts seeking to reopen while the appeal was pending.

This week, attorneys for the city and The Bottle Shop filed an emergency motion with the Georgia Court of Appeals asking it to stay the trial court ruling so the business could continue to operate until the appellate court rules. That motion was granted late Wednesday, leading to Thursday morning’s reopening.

It normally takes the Court of Appeals a couple of months to make final rulings in such matters, Fay said.

The owners of The Bottle Shop are prepared to take the case to the state Supreme Court, if necessary, Jordan said.

“Whatever the next step is we are going to fight this to the end,” Jordan said.

The Growing Room has a pre-K program that is a preferred provider, part of Bright from the Start (also known as the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning); has the same curriculum as Muscogee County public school pre-K; teachers have the same certification as Muscogee County pre-K programs; and the Growing Room takes overflow from Muscogee County pre-K programs, Hodges has contended in legal arguments.

“I believe that it is a school but to further that, Judge Culpepper thinks it’s a school,” Hodges said Thursday.

The Bottle Shop’s argument can be found in an August brief filed in the case by its attorney, Travis Hargrove of The Finley Firm.

“The term ‘school’ is not defined in City Code,” Hargrove wrote in the trial court filing. “The Growing Room is not a school and does not hold a license as a school.”

Hargrove said he was pleased with Wednesday’s Court of Appeals decision.

The case has also played out on social media where Daniel and her two liquor stores, Uptown Wine & Spirits and Forrest Road Package Store, have been targeted for boycotts. In a December interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Daniel said that the reason for the lawsuit was because she wanted the city to fairly administer the liquor laws and the competition that the Bradley Park store would bring.

“What has been lost in this is that Pat has been in business for more than 30 years and has followed all of the laws,” Hodges said. “All we want is a fair playing field.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 1:34 PM with the headline "‘It’s business as usual’ at The Bottle Shop as court battle rages."