The see-saw legal battle over Texas Card House Dallas' right to operate as a social poker club has swung back in favor of the club. On Tuesday, Texas's Fifth Court of Appeal reversed a Dallas County district court ruling that the TCH Dallas's occupancy certificate was invalid and that the club must close.
Instead, the reversal -- which already was a reversal of sorts from an original City of Dallas Board of Adjustment ruling in favor of the club -- means that TCH Dallas can continue to operate for the foreseeable future. City of Dallas officials could still appeal the decision to Texas's State Supreme Court, though the city has announced its plans to create a more specific legal framework under which social poker clubs can operate.
City took no timely legal action against club
In reversing the Dallas County ruling, the opinion written by appellate judge Bonnie Lee Goldstein concluded that the City of Dallas had waited too long to take an action such as revoking the business's occupancy. The parent entity of TCH Dallas originally sought city approval to do business as a nightclub, then switched during renovation of the venue to become a social poker club.
Though TCH Dallas's ownership arguably did not disclose the change in business purpose, Dallas officials waited for nearly 14 months before seeking to revoke the club's permit. "We conclude the trial court thereby erred in failing to afford the required deference to the [Board of Adjustment’s] decision,” Justice Goldstein wrote. “The court must not substitute its discretion for the [Board of Adjustment’s]."
Justice Goldstein went on to declare that Dallas's Board of Adjustment had followed a well-outlined path of inquiry when it ruled in favor of TCH Dallas's initial appeal of the Dallas City Attorney's revocation order. That led to Dallas County essentially suing itself in the matter, with Dallas's City Council and City Attorney's Office pitted against the city's Board of Adjustment. The back-and-forth battle has already cost the city several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees.
Tuesday's appellate ruling increases the chances that other operators will seek to open social poker clubs within Dallas's city limits. Any framework the city approves, however, would not apply to suburban locations, such as when well-known poker pro Doug Polk was rebuffed by an inner Dallas suburb in his attempt to open a Dallas-area club.
