A hearing is scheduled next week to consider the future of a closed north Huntsville establishment.
Madison County Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Hall will hear a motion from the owners of 708 Bar & Grille next week asking her to reconsider the preliminary injunction she granted shutting down the business.
The hearing is set for Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Hall ordered the business shut down on Sept. 17, preventing the owners and employees from conducting business in the building at 708 Poplar Ave. NW. She also ordered the building padlocked.
The injunction came at the request of the city of Huntsville following a series of shootings and other incidents at the business over the past few years. The request for the injunction came during a Sept. 11 hearing in which the owners – Malcolm Gopher, Genell Hughes, Catherine Gopher and Illiyha Gopher – were not present.
Their attorneys claimed they missed the hearing because of because of “oversight and mistake of miscalendaring.” The owners objected to a “144-page surprise trial brief” filed about 18 hours before the hearing and seek to strike some of the evidence and affidavits filed by the city. The owners claim that closing their business has created a financial hardship.
The city filed suit against the business and its owners on May 5, saying the property has been the site of several incidents of gun-related violence, drug-related activity, assaults, and other forms of illegal activity. The city said the police department made multiple arrests at the establishment.
According to the city’s complaint, in October 2022, the city’s Liquor License Review Committee suspended the restaurant retail liquor license for 708 Bar & Grill, LLC, for a period of 90 days upon the police department’s recommendation, due in part to “repeated incidents of vandalism, breaches of the peace, disorderly conduct, or other violations of state and local laws, which unreasonably interfere with the peace, quiet, comfort, and repose of persons of ordinary sensibilities in the neighborhood where such incidents may be attributable to the presence in the neighborhood of the licensed established.”
The incidents included a shooting, the city said.
The city claims officers responded to an ongoing domestic violence incident where a woman was run over by a vehicle multiple times in the parking lot of the business on or about May 5, 2023.
It said on or about May 5, 2024, officers responded to a shooting in progress where five people were shot in the patio area of the bar and grill. The business was not allowed to have patio seating under the zoning ordinance, the city said.
The lawsuit said police officers also responded to a shooting incident at the business where multiple vehicles were shot on Aug, 2, 2024. It said on or about March 10 of this year officers responded to a shooting in progress where multiple people were shot. Prior to the shooting, the alleged offender had been traveling in the area at speeds estimated at 120 miles per hour, the city claims.
“Defendants have failed to either prevent, deter, or disperse the violence occurring at the subject property,” the city’s complaint reads. It also noted that the business violated the city’s noise ordinance.
In an affidavit filed after the preliminary, Malcolm Gopher denied allegations against his family’s business. He also said he had requested assistance from the police department for monitoring and directing traffic and has been denied. He also said he requested reports detailing illegal activities at the business but did not receive them.
Malcolm Gopher told the Huntsville City Council he felt the shutting down of 708 Bar & Grille was linked to the fact that he once served time in jail but said he had now turned his life around.
Several north Huntsville residents rallied behind the business and Malcolm Gopher at the council’s meeting on Sept. 25, but were not allowed to directly speak about the shutting down of the business because of the litigation involved.