Miami Beach’s spring break curfew stands, despite lawsuit from clubs. Here’s why

Miami Beach officials’ decision to impose a midnight curfew this weekend as spring break crowds swelled was “reasonable,” a judge ruled Saturday afternoon after a four-hour emergency hearing, denying an attempt by three South Beach nightclubs to have the curfew overturned.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge David C. Miller ruled before 6 p.m. that, while it’s unfortunate that businesses like the three clubs who filed suit — M2, Mynt Lounge and Exchange — stand to lose out on a weekend of revenue, city officials “acted in good faith” after seeing substantially larger crowds Thursday than they had seen last weekend and deciding Friday morning to announce a midnight curfew for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

“We want our city to be vibrant, but we know that this weekend historically has been an issue,” City Manager Alina Hudak, who signed an emergency order declaring the curfew, told reporters after the hearing at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in downtown Miami. “We are all here collectively to do everything we need to do to protect the public.”

The hearing Saturday amounted to a mini-trial in which Miller heard testimony from Hudak and Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones, as well as from multiple nightclub owners. The clubs were seeking injunctive relief to block the curfew on Saturday and Sunday nights, which would have required the judge to find they had a “substantial likelihood” of ultimately winning the case.

Instead, Miller said he believed Hudak and Jones used sound professional judgment in imposing the curfew — even though, unlike in recent years, it came before a shooting had taken place amid large crowds on Ocean Drive.

“The solution is to reduce the size of the crowds, and that’s what the city is trying to do,” Miller said.

The judge also rejected an argument by the clubs that, if a curfew is in place, it does not need to extend to the northern parts of the city’s entertainment district where the clubs are located and crowds are typically less substantial.

“They need to make sure that people aren’t drawn to the area,” he said.

Hudak testified that she saw bigger crowds and a more rowdy atmosphere among spring breakers on Thursday night, leading her to believe a curfew would be necessary.

Jones took the witness stand after Hudak and painted a similar picture, saying he “urged” Hudak to impose a curfew Friday and to keep it in place through the weekend after seeing Thursday night’s crowds.

The curfew is “absolutely” necessary, Jones said, “in my professional opinion based on years of experience working many spring breaks and high-impact weekends.”

Hudak said the effectiveness of the curfew was evident Friday night when crowds began to thin as midnight drew near.

“Clearly, the crowds chose at some point in the night to go somewhere else,” she said. “It just wasn’t fun.”

The clubs filed their complaint around 11:30 p.m. Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The curfew “unduly punishes and penalizes the plaintiffs’ lawful business operations and was done without reasonable or appropriate advance warning and in the absence of good cause,” the complaint states.

Several big events the clubs had planned for this weekend will be canceled, the filing notes, adding that the venues have collectively welcomed thousands of patrons so far this month “without causing any harm to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens, residents, and visitors of Miami Beach.”

Ben Kuehne, an attorney for the nightclubs, said in court that while the city’s stated goal of trying to prevent any deaths during spring break was “honorable,” the question for the judge to consider “is whether the city has gone too far.”

He pointed to Hudak’s testimony that around 600 law enforcement officers from more than a dozen different agencies were patrolling the area, saying the city has failed to take a “measured,” evidence-based approach.

Miller, the judge, acknowledged the city’s spring break plan, including parking closures, license-plate readers and DUI checkpoints, was “almost tyrannical.” But “even that didn’t keep people away,” he said, pointing to growing crowds this weekend.

READ MORE: Miami Beach imposes a midnight spring break curfew starting Friday night

Romain Zago, the owner of Mynt Lounge at 19th Street and Collins Avenue, told the Miami Herald on Friday that he didn’t understand why the city imposed a curfew when other measures seemed to be effective in keeping crowds small and calm the prior weekend.

“I don’t understand why this week they would not apply the same system, the same measures,” Zago said Friday afternoon. “What happened all of a sudden today that we have to have a curfew?”

Mynt is open from midnight to 5 a.m., meaning the curfew will force the club to close this weekend. Zago said the move would be damaging for his business and his employees.

“My staff all live check by check. They cannot afford a week off,” he said. The city, Zago said, is “removing food from our plates.”

Large spring break crowds gathered in South Beach, especially on Ocean Drive, on Friday night. But enforcement of the curfew went smoothly, and police had almost entirely cleared the strip by 12:15 a.m.

READ MORE: Photos: Miami Beach curfew clears out Ocean Drive during peak spring break weekend

This is the fourth straight year in which Miami Beach officials have declared a curfew during spring break. But unlike in past years, the 2024 curfew was imposed despite a relatively calm month of March so far, thanks in part to the city’s viral “breaking up with spring break” campaign on social media.

The third weekend of March has been particularly problematic in the past, marked by stampedes and shootings.

Miami Beach officials have warned residents, visitors and business owners since last March that a curfew would likely be implemented during spring break 2024.