State agrees to pay Oscar's II nightclub $525,000

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The owner of a Central Area nightclub embroiled in a legal battle with the city and state for the past seven years has settled the last part of his lawsuit with state Liquor Control Board.

The liquor board agreed to pay $525,000 to Oscar's II. The owner, Oscar McCoy, claimed his constitutional rights were violated when city and state agencies tried to label the East Madison Street club a drug nuisance and deny it a liquor license.

(Note: The amount of the settlement was misstated when this article was originally published. This version has been corrected.)

The city settled its half of the suit Feb. 1 for $675,000. The liquor board and McCoy's lawyers waited until yesterday to make their deal final -- the day the case was scheduled to go to trial in King County Superior Court.

"What can I say? I'm glad it's behind us," McCoy said. "It was a nightmare."

Informants for the Seattle Police Department made 18 crack cocaine buys at the club from 1995 to 1997, according to court documents.

The buys resulted in no arrests, but were intended to prove that the club should be closed as a drug magnet. In April 2000, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the city had violated McCoy's right to due process. McCoy sued over his financial losses caused by the revoked liquor license.

Lawyers for the city said they settled largely because a King County judge ruled that they must disclose the names of the informants.

Representatives of the liquor board likewise said their settlement had nothing to do with the merits of the suit.

"The board believes that its agents acted in a professional and lawful manner," said Gigi Zenk, spokeswoman for the board. "They didn't violate any laws. This was a prudent business decision."

"No one will ever apologize in a lawsuit," said Dave Osgood, McCoy's lawyer.

"The way you get that is in the size of the settlement. And nothing says I'm sorry like $1.2 million."

P-I reporter Sam Skolnik can be reached at 206-467-1039 or samskolnik@seattlepi.com

Add P-I Local headlines to