A youth political organization filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Dallas and the Omni Dallas Hotel, seeking damages after the group’s activism training event was canceled the week of the event.
The event was scheduled to take place at the downtown hotel in August.
Young Americans for Liberty planned for 1,400 students to attend its Mobilize 2020 event at the Omni hotel, along with 250 investors and 100 elected officials. The event was supposed to kick off Aug. 6, but the group’s president has said organizers were informed just days before that the city was canceling the event.
The city of Dallas and the Omni are both named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with the Dallas Convention Center Hotel Development Corporation. The Omni is owned by the city and privately managed.
Spokespeople for city and the Omni each declined to comment on pending litigation. A city spokeswoman previously said the Omni, not the city, made the decision to postpone the gathering because of concerns about the coronavirus.
In August, a representative for the hotel said that at the recommendation of the asset manager, Matthews Southwest, “moving forward with the event at this time wasn’t supported in light of the current pandemic” and that it would work with groups to possibly reschedule in the future.
Young Americans for Liberty alleges in the lawsuit that the cancellation was a breach of contract and left the group with economic damages of over $166,000 after being reimbursed for some of the costs of the event. Had they received notice of the cancellation the week before the event, the lawsuit says, they would have had less than $10,000 in damages.
The group is seeking monetary relief between $250,000 and $1 million, according to the lawsuit.
Cliff Maloney, president of Young Americans for Liberty, said in a statement that the group’s lawsuit is fighting “underhanded, double-dealing politics.”
He previously told The Dallas Morning News that organizers had agreed to all of the public health-focused stipulations required to have the event, including plans to provide and require face masks and socially-distanced seating arrangements.
“The city of Dallas needs to be asked: Why are unmasked protests being allowed to occur, but peaceful YAL events are being shut down?" Maloney said in the statement announcing the lawsuit. “We look forward to seeing what discovery in this case reveals about what really went on here and how decisions were made behind closed doors to shut down a perfectly safe and peaceful event.”
