The owner of two Icelandic pubs, Monte Carlo and Mónakó, will not be awarded damages for what he called “bullying and criminal activity” from city officials towards him.
DV reports that pub owner Margeir Margeirsson was denied the 15 million ISK in damages he demanded from the city in Reykjavík District Court today.
Conflicts between the pub owner and the city go back at least the past three years. In 2011, it was reported that the establishments would lose their operating permits. This was due to multiple complaints from residents near the pubs that they were a focal point for drugs and violence – an accusation management has denied.
Then, in 2012, Margeir announced that he intended to sue the city for damages over the matter, saying that neither the police nor city officials had any substantial grounds on which to shut them down.
Things came to a head last year when Margeir went on the record saying, “When elected city officials decide, more or less as one, to engage in abuse of power, bullying and criminal activity towards people in town, in cooperation with the police, then there is no other choice but to take the matter to court.”
With the district court’s ruling, Margeir will have to pay the city 250,000 ISK in legal fees. He has not yet announced whether or not he will appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
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