The owner of Skybox Bar and Grill has filed a lawsuit against the city in order to prevent the bar from closing when its food service license expires next week.

The City Council earlier this month voted to deny owner Allen Moore licenses to serve food, have a pool room and have a pinball machine. His current licenses expire Thursday.

Without the food service license, the bar, which reopened last month after being closed for a year, cannot operate, because state law requires food to be served anywhere alcohol is served.

“They’ve violated all the rules and the constitutional rights of the Moores,” David Lourie, Moore’s attorney, said about the council’s move to effectively shut down the bar by denying the food service license.

The council originally denied Moore a liquor license in August, but the state’s Department of Public Safety’s Liquor Licensing and Compliance Division overturned that decision. Lourie said the latest denial is an effort by the councilors to render ineffective the liquor license that “they can’t get at.”

In his lawsuit, Moore has filed motions for an appeal of the council’s decision on the licenses, a restraining order against the city and an expedited hearing. Lourie said he hopes a hearing will be held next week.

“This has been a pattern of harassment they have engaged in now,” Lourie said.

According to Lourie, Moore requested the council reconsider its decision, but no meeting was scheduled before the licenses expire.

“They’ve left us no choice,” Lourie said about the decision to sue the city.

In the suit, Moore specifically names Code Enforcement Officer Rick Gouzie and the four city councilors who voted against the licenses – Brendan Rielly, John O’Hara, Dotty Aube and Drew Gattine.

In making their case against granting the licenses, the councilors said, despite Moore’s best efforts, the bar continues to be a problem in the neighborhood. Residents in the neighborhood, they said, were kept up as its patrons loudly exited the bar earlier in its first week after reopening.

Despite the fact that the licenses up for renewal have nothing to do with noise or rowdy behavior due to the consumption of alcohol, City Solicitor Bill Dale said earlier this month the council still has grounds to deny them.

According to Dale, city licenses were recently reorganized by City Clerk Lynda Adams so that they all fall under one ordinance with the same set of standards for approval. One of those standards, he said, is that granting the licenses would not result in causing a nuisance in the neighborhood. Dale said that because of a police call received after the Skybox opened last month, the council can show that the bar, which has a history of causing problems for neighbors and police, continues to do so under Moore’s management.

But Lourie doesn’t believe the city has a case.

“There’s no basis for them denying these licenses,” he said. “This is nothing that is legally justified.”