Adult entertainment is now 11-31 in the courts this year.

RIVERSIDE – The city of San Bernardino must pay $1.4 million to the owners of Flesh Club for losses they suffered while the city tried to shut down the all-nude venue, a state appellate court ruled Thursday.

A three-judge panel for the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside affirmed a jury’s decision to award damages for losses the Flesh Club suffered when city officials ordered it to stop nude dancing from 1995 to 1999. The city is also liable for interest on the verdict, as well as attorney’s fees and interest on the attorney’s fees, said attorney Roger Jon Diamond, who represented the club’s owner, Manta Management.

“This is a major victory,” Diamond said by telephone. “Not just for the strip club, but for everybody.

“What it holds is that state immunity laws are trumped by the federal civil-rights act.”

The appellate court already had upheld a trial court’s ruling that declared unconstitutional the zoning ordinance the city used to justify an injunction that prohibited nude dancing at the Hospitality Lane club.

The city since argued that it should not be forced to pay the $1.4 million awarded to the club at trial in June 2004.

When a private party obtains an injunction to stop an activity, it must post a bond to cover any losses incurred by the other party in the event that a lawsuit is filed.

Cities, however, don’t have to post a bond under state law, and San Bernardino argued that it was immune from paying for the club’s lost profits, Diamond said.

The appellate panel, made up of Presiding Judge Art W. McKinster, Judge Betty Ann Richli and Judge Jeffrey King, sided with the club.

City Attorney James F. Penman declined to comment on the ruling Thursday, saying he had yet to read the court’s opinion.

While early parts of the case were handled by Penman’s office, the city’s case was later picked up by the San Bernardino law firm Arias, Lockwood & Gray. Attempts to reach attorneys Joseph Arias or Christopher Lockwood late Thursday were unsuccessful.

Flesh Club originally sought $2.6 million in damages, but that amount was reduced after a witness testified during trial about prostitution at the club, according to earlier reports.

Club owner Walton Randall Welty could not be reached for comment Thursday.