LEXINGTON, Ky. – A federal court should not dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Hustler Hollywood store against Lexington, even though the parties agree their dispute can be heard in state court, the store’s lawyers argue.

In a brief filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, H. Louis Sirkin of Cincinnati, one of the store’s lawyers, said the federal court should issue a stay in the case, so the store’s owners can have their constitutional claims addressed there if those claims are not addressed in state court.

Lawyers for the city want the federal case dismissed. They have until Aug. 9 to file a response to Hustler Hollywood’s latest brief.

Both sides have agreed that the dispute likely could be resolved in two pending state court cases in Fayette County.

Jimmy Flynt, the store’s operator and the brother of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, sued in federal court July 23. The suit alleges that the city violated Jimmy Flynt’s constitutional rights when it passed a zoning ordinance that prohibits sexually oriented bookstores, video stores and other entertainment centers at interstate highway exchanges in Fayette County.

The Hustler Hollywood store, which opened July 16 without adult materials for sale, sits near an interchange off Interstate 75.

The store began selling sexually oriented adult material July 26, and the city filed a criminal complaint in Fayette County District Court three days later, saying the store had violated the zoning law.

The store sued the city’s board of adjustment in January in Fayette County Circuit Court, after the board rejected the store’s application to sell sexually oriented adult products. That case is pending, and no hearing date has been set.