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Appeals Court Says Columbus ‘Within Its Rights’ To Declare Hotel Shuttered

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – An appeals court says the city of Columbus was within its rights when it declared a hotel a nuisance and shut it down for a year.

Ohio’s Tenth District Court of Appeals affirmed a Franklin County Municipal Court’s order that the Red Carpet Inn on the city’s north side be shuttered for a year because of the criminal activity there.

Police said a patron was running a methamphetamine lab there, and 10 different women were arrested there and convicted for prostitution.

The hotel owners challenged the contention that the city proved by clear and convincing evidence that the hotel was a nuisance. The owners also claimed the closure was beyond the state’s one-year limit because the court temporarily closed it before making a final ruling.