Gwinnett County has asked a judge to shut down a store that sells sex toys near the Gwinnett Place Mall.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Gwinnett County Superior Court, the county seeks an injunction ordering the store, Tokyo Valentino, to cease operating an adult establishment on Pleasant Hill Road. The lawsuit says the store is operating in a zoning district that does not permit adult stores.
It's the latest legal salvo between the county and Tokyo Valentino. They also are squaring off in federal court, where the store claims, among other things, that Gwinnett is violating its First Amendment right to free speech.
In January a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the federal lawsuit, ruling that the county ordinances at issue had been replaced by new ones last fall, so the store’s claim is moot.
Tokyo Valentino has appealed that decision. The case is pending before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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