Johns Creek, Georgia – An adult video store in Johns Creek can stay open until Dec. 20 following a hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday.

A pair of rulings by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash preserved for now the current state of affairs in Johns Creek, where a 10,000-square-foot Love Shack opened Nov. 29, just days before the newly incorporated city officially opened for business.

The judge did not order the store to lock its doors, which Fulton County was seeking, but he also did not order the county to give the Love Shack a business license, which the store was seeking.

The judge agreed to let the new city of Johns Creek become a party in the court case, along with Fulton County. The county has jurisdiction over business licenses until Johns Creek takes over that function, expected to be in early January.

The owner of the Love Shack, John Cornetta, [pictured] said he considered Monday’s hearing an unvarnished victory.

“It’s the status quo,” Cornetta said. “We’re selling today and we’ll be selling tomorrow.”

Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said the battle against the Love Shack is a long-term struggle.

“On an emotional level, people will be disappointed that the doors aren’t padlocked immediately,” he said. “But we’re trying to get the best long-term result for Johns Creek that we can.”

On Monday, Thrash denied a motion by Cornetta to make the Fulton County give him a regular business license. Granting the motion would have conclusively settled the legality of the store.

The judge set another hearing for Dec. 20 to further consider the question. If the store can prove it was opened legally before Johns Creek became a city, it might be protected from the new city’s adult entertainment laws.

Cornetta says the store does not need an adult entertainment license because less than 25 percent of the store’s inventory is regulated by the adult ordinance. Under Fulton County regulations, he says, the store qualifies as a regular business.

The county maintains the store is an adult business and needs to follow those rules as well as the accompanying zoning regulations.

But on the second motion, Thrash then denied Fulton County’s request to find Cornetta in contempt. In October, Cornetta had asked Thrash to make Fulton County let him open until the final ruling in the case. Thrash said no, but didn’t issue any instructions.

But Cornetta opened anyway, saying a federal appellate court had struck down the county’s adult ordinance. He said he was also taking advantage of a provision in the county law that allows the businesses to open for 30 days before getting a regular business license.

Thrash said Cornetta hadn’t violated any judicial instructions one way or the other and so wasn’t in contempt.

Sondra Russ, a Johns Creek activist who attended the hearing, she was was alternately pleased and disappointed with the Monday’s results.

“He gets to stay open for a while but the fact he wasn’t able to short-cut the system is wonderful,” she said. “The fact he opened without a business license just shows his arrogance and contempt for any legal system. The judge saw that he [Cornetta] could apply with the city, and that’s good.”