Buck Foston's Lawsuit to Proceed to Trial

A federal judge will hear whether a city businessman had the right to open a a restaurant in town with an unusual name.

Larry Blatterfein, owner of the Knight Club on Easton Avenue, purchased the former Bennigan's location between Route 18 and Route 1 in 2009 with the intent to open a bar and restaurant called "Buck Foston's Roadhouse."

In September 2011, the city council denied a person-to-person transfer of a liquor license to Blatterfein from the owners of the former Sapporo restaurant on George Street.

The council said at the time that the establishment of a bar at that busy intersection would result in traffic problems and spillover parking on nearby Tunison Road.

Blatterfein had filed a lawsuit against the city in July 2011 because of the delay, and his attorney says Blatterfein's First and Fourteenth Amendments rights were violated by the delay in the liquor license transfer.

Now, the case will go before a federal judge to see whether the application was improperly denied, Blatterfein's legal team announced Tuesday. 

"The defendants sought to dismiss the claims in a motion for summary judgment, but a U.S. District Judge ruled that Blatterfein had presented enough evidence of improper conduct to warrant a trial," a release from the law firm Joshpe Law Group said.

Blatterfein claims that the delay in the restaurant application was because the city does not like the name, which he says is a play on New York and Boston baseball rivalries.

City spokesman Russell Marchetta was not available for comment on Tuesday.