A Baldwin County judge is ordering the city of Gulf Shores not to take action against the business license of one of its longtime bars.

Judge Jody Bishop, in a filing Thursday, issued a temporary restraining order telling the city it could not take “any adverse action against” MudBugs that could result in revoking the bar’s business license at least until he held a hearing on the issue. The city’s hearing on the license is supposed to take place at 3 p.m. today.

Bishop’s order indicates that a hearing on the matter will be set at a later date in Baldwin County Circuit Court.

The hearing in Gulf Shores was expected to include testimony from the Gulf Shores Police Department chronicling public safety issues at the late-night bar. Recent incidences that generated local media attention included an alleged sexual assault and fight that occurred on August 28, and a Feb. 27, 2021, shooting that occurred after an irate patron left the bar and began firing his gun at it.

The establishment’s attorney, Mark Ryan, told AL.com on Tuesday that no official complaint was filed to him, though he confirms he met with Gulf Shores Police Chief Ed Delmore and Deputy Chief Dan Netemyer in recent days to discuss the concerns.

Ryan claimed the Gulf Shores hearing is a “violation of due process” and called it “illegal.” He claimed the hearing is not specified through city ordinance and that the process had not been set up by a prior vote of the Gulf Shores City Council. The Gulf Shores ordinance does include language that allows for a hearing as long as an applicant is given a notice 10 days in advance.

Ryan said on Tuesday that he was not attending and was advising the bar’s owner, Janley Woerner Miarka, to also not attend.

The Gulf Shores City Council, on Monday, ruled to extend a business license to another bar with a troubling past of criminal issues. Cohiba Dunes, originally opened in 2008 as a “cigar bar,” had its business license renewed for 90 days after the establishment’s new ownership pleaded before the council for an opportunity to prove itself.