Former Sacramento Kings owner claims retaliation by city in lawsuit over The Trap
A new lawsuit, filed Wednesday by attorneys representing former Sacramento Kings owner Gregg Lukenbill and his family, claims the city of Sacramento retaliated against their business The Trap, after they publicized their grievances with the city.
This could prove to be an issue for the city, as the long-running dispute continues over The Trap, a Greenhaven bar and restaurant at a historic property that dates to the mid-19th century.
David Loy, an attorney for the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition, said that he couldn’t comment on specifics of Lukenbill’s suit but that “as a general matter, yes, the First Amendment does prohibit the government from retaliating against people or businesses for exercising their free speech rights or the rights to petition government.”
If a court affirms that the city retaliated against The Trap, Loy said potential remedies could include civil remedies, such as compensatory or punitive damages.
In mid-August, attorneys for Lukenbill and his family had agreed to pause a previous lawsuit against the city related to The Trap.
That suit, which Lukenbill’s attorneys Brad Carroll and Michael Laino filed July 11, was primarily concerned with stopping efforts by the city to limit occupancy at the bar. Judge Jennifer Rockwell agreed with this, issuing an injunction on July 18 against occupancy caps the city had attempted to set.
On Wednesday, Lukenbill’s attorneys sued the city on behalf of Lukenbill and his wife Sally Lukenbill’s business G&SL LLC, which owns the property for The Trap and Trap Bar LLC, which is run by Lukenbill’s daughter Mariah Lukenbill.
Carroll told The Sacramento Bee that Wednesday’s filing, a 26-page complaint filed in Sacramento Superior Court, came with a 45-day window having passed for the city to respond to a claim filed on June 27. “We had to go through the whole process of filing the claim first and waiting to see if the city had a response,” Carroll said. “It’s taken its time to work its way through the procedural process.”
The filing lists causes of action beyond the alleged retaliation by the city, such as nuisance.
Elizabeth Hawkins, a senior deputy city attorney who made filings in the previous lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. City spokesperson Jennifer Singer wrote in an email Friday, “The City has not yet been served with a complaint. As such, it would be premature to comment on it.”
In a sit-down interview at his East Sacramento home on Thursday afternoon, Gregg Lukenbill, whose family bought The Trap in 2022, recounted the origins of his dispute with the city.
The new suit states that a community-led effort in the late 2000s to save The Trap, which dates to the mid-19th century, led to the city declaring it a historic landmark. Gregg Lukenbill has told The Bee repeatedly in recent months that the city did work on the property as part of the preservation effort, signing off on the work in 2011 but not completing it.
Gregg Lukenbill traced his problems with the city over The Trap to July 2024, explaining that he had attempted to secure an entertainment permit for it.
“I knew I had to get a permit to be able to bring the whole place up to code to get an entertainment permit,” Gregg Lukenbill said. “And that’s what I was trying to do. I was trying to bring a place up to the codes that they set that they didn’t comply with.”
In an Aug. 18 filing related to Gregg Lukenbill’s earlier lawsuit, Hawkins wrote that beginning on Sept. 18, 2024, the city had “repeatedly informed Petitioner that it must secure permits for the extensive amount of building, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical work which Petitioner has conducted at The Trap without any permits.”
In mid-August, a city board upheld city fees of $1,550 against G&SL LLC related to alleged code violations.
Gregg Lukenbill’s new lawsuit includes allegations that the city retaliated after the filing of the initial claim with the city on June 27. The suit stated that a fire marshall made an unannounced inspection on July 9 and with the fire department issuing an order the following day for The Trap to stop using its patios.
“Without the ability to serve food and use its dining patios, The Trap incurred significant revenue loss, likely exceeding $2,000 a day,” the suit states.
The city’s enforcement efforts against The Trap in early July came after The Bee had reached out to the city for comment while in the process of reporting on Lukenbill’s dispute. Singer replied on July 3, following an interview request to Community Development Director Tom Pace, and requested more information about the nature of the story.
Lukenbill said that the city retaliated after it started getting queried for that story, which was published on July 11.
Lukenbill, 71, is a Sacramento native and longtime local developer and businessman. He owned the Kings from 1983 to 1992 and spearheaded efforts to bring the team west from Kansas City in 1985. This included writing to then NBA Commissioner David Stern in 1984 with the idea of bringing the team to Sacramento.
Asked if he had ever considered just washing his hands of The Trap and walking away from the business, Lukenbill immediately denounced the idea.
“It’s not in my DNA to do that,” Lukenbill said. “Hell no. Not a chance in hell I would ever do that. Ever. No, I’m just the opposite of that.”
He added, “This is a huge problem for the city. It’s a much bigger problem than The Trap.”
A hearing in Lukenbill’s lawsuit is currently scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 11 in Department 28 at Gordon D. Schaber Superior Court in Sacramento.
This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 3:06 PM.
CORRECTION: The dates of the interview with Gregg Lukenbill and of The Sacramento Bee’s communication this week with city officials were incorrect in an earlier version of the story.
