A White Plains bar that was shut down on Sept. 7 has sued the State Liquor Authority to get its license back, alleging that the agency acted improperly.
Abby’s Bar Lounge claims that the testimony of witnesses was unsubstantiated as to whether liquor laws were intentionally violated, according to a petition filed on Sept. 12 in Westchester Supreme Court.
“If I am forced to permanently close the business,” owner Santiago Williams, of Elmsford, stated in an affidavit, “I will lose my entire life savings. … I am completely devastated by what has occurred. My life will be ruined and my life’s work destroyed.”
But the liquor agency says in its response to the petition that “this is a licensee who simply cannot be trusted to follow the law and protect its patrons, employees and public at large.”
Abby’s Bar Lounge is on Westchester Avenue, across the street from The Westchester shopping mall.
It opened under a temporary liquor permit in September 2022 and was approved for a full license in March 2023.
The bar quickly became a site of disorderly conduct, according to liquor agency records. During a nine month period last year, for instance, 36 calls for service were logged on complaints about intoxication, fights, noise, fire code violations, patrons smoking illegal substances, and a person living unlawfully in the basement.
When White Plains police officers responded to complaints, instead of Williams they found Jaime Reyes running the business. Reyes identified himself alternately as an owner, manager, security guard and a patron.
When asked to produce records or video surveillance, or to allow inspections, Reyes allegedly refused to cooperate with police.
As a convicted felon for sale of narcotics in 1990, the liquor authority says, Reyes was not eligible for licensure.
An assistant city attorney who was trying to determine whether Williams actually ran the lounge testified at a hearing that he told her he wanted nothing to do with the bar and he paid none of the bills.
The state brought two cases against Abby’s to revoke its license for numerous liquor law violations. Hearing officers upheld 26 of 31 charges.
On Sept.7, the full board of the state liquor authority cancelled Abby’s license.
Now Abby’s is asking Westchester Supreme Court to reverse that ruling, claiming that it was arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law.
Abby’s “has been found to have been sharing its license illegally with parties never vetted by the [state liquor authority],” the agency states in its formal answer to the petition, “and as a result, the licensed premises has been operated recklessly and in rampant violation of a myriad of laws designed to protect the public.”
