Press Release — May 12, 2026

NYC Attorney Sues State Liquor Authority Chair Lily Fan for Hiding Data on Which Bars and Restaurants Can Have Live Music and Dancing

Lawsuit Filed In the New York Supreme Court After 14 Months of the SLA’s Stonewalling Public Records Requests and Chair Fan Ignoring a 2024 Warning Letter and Six Years of Violating a 2019 Transparency Law

NYC’s Dancing and Music Zoning Reform Means Nothing — Is the SLA Doing Anything to Help Venues Modify Their Licenses?

Alan D. Sugarman v. Lily M. Fan, Edgar De Leon, John Maya, New York State Liquor Authority, New York County Supreme Court, Docket 56072/2026.

• NYC repealed the Cabaret Law in 2017 and reformed zoning in 2024 to allow live music and dancing in thousands of previously restricted venues — but those reforms only work if individual venues file a Method of Operation change request with the SLA. Sugarman sought these records to find out whether venues were filing such requests and whether the SLA was doing anything to help — information essential for evaluating whether the reforms are working. The SLA’s refusal leaves everyone in the dark.
• A 2019 New York State law — Alcoholic Beverage Control Law § 110-c — requires the SLA to make publicly available all conditions it imposes on liquor licenses, including restrictions on live music and patron dancing. That law has been ignored for six years. After complying briefly, the SLA quietly removed this data from its public database — leaving legislators and the public with no way to evaluate the SLA’s impact.

Fan Was Warned Personally — and Did Nothing

In December 2024, Sugarman wrote directly to Chair Fan, documenting that the SLA had removed Method of Operation data from its public database, demanding its restoration, and asking how the SLA planned to help venues modify their licenses to permit patron dancing and live music.

Fan never responded. Sugarman was then forced to file three formal public records requests starting March 2025 — and when those too were stonewalled, to bring this lawsuit.

SLA Asserted High Volume of FOIL Requests Prevented Compliance

Three public records requests filed starting March 2025 were met, every single month for over a year, with a word-for-word identical form letter — the SLA’s response, verbatim every month: “Due to a high number of FOIL requests recently received, it has taken longer than anticipated to respond.” Never a legal reason, never an actual answer — and even after the SLA’s own appeals officer ruled in January 2026 that the delays were unjustified and ordered production within 20 days, the SLA still failed to comply.

What the Data Shows — Even at 60% Completeness

Even the SLA’s partial production — covering only 60% of NYC venues — already reveals that 82% of NYC on-premises venues lack explicit permission for live music, 77% lack explicit permission for dancing, and some venues carry restrictions limiting them to specific ethnic or national music — including Mariachi only, Latin music only, and Irish traditional music only.

About the Petitioner

Sugarman is an NYC attorney and member of the Coalition of Musicians and Dancers to Eliminate Regulations Against Music and Dancing, and was among the supporters of the 2017 Cabaret Law repeal and the 2018 NYC zoning reform.

More Information

Lawsuit page with all petition documents: http://dance-music-regulation.com/document/freedom-of-information-law-suit-filed-against-new-york-state-liquor-authority-chair-lily-fan

2024 letter to Chair Fan: http://dance-music-regulation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-12-07-Letter-Sugarman-to-SLA-Chair-Chan-Method-of-Operation-Data-Removed.pdf

2019 Law: http://dance-music-regulation.com/wp-content/uploads/Art78_Petitioner_Ex._18.pdf

Court docket: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=BRghvabPanJuqe4BOFiZQw==&display=all&courtType=New%20York%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1