Lawsuit between former Sacramento Kings owner and city shifts to federal court
A recent filing to shift former Sacramento Kings owner Gregg Lukenbill’s lawsuit against the city to federal court isn’t unusual, according to a First Amendment attorney.
Lukenbill, who owned the Kings from 1983-92, sued the city in Sacramento Superior Court on Oct. 1 through two businesses connected to his family, Trap Bar LLC, a Greenhaven bar, and G&SL LLC, which owns its land. The lawsuit claimed the city had retaliated against The Trap after Lukenbill and his attorneys criticized the city.
On Nov. 7, two attorneys for the city, Katherine Underwood and Gustavo Martinez filed a removal notice with the United States District Court, Eastern District of California seeking to shift the case there. The filing cited federal code, including that Lukenbill’s attorneys had sought relief from the city under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which covers civil rights.
David Loy, an attorney for the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition has seen this legal move before. “It’s not uncommon that public agencies sued for federal claims will remove the case to federal court,” Loy said.
Common or not, the move could slow an already acrimonious case. Lukenbill’s attorney Brad Carroll of Downey Brand LLP said that because the Eastern District’s judicial bench hasn’t been fully staffed in recent years, cases have been moving somewhat more slowly there.
“It’s not an absolute rule, but just, yeah, generally speaking, the cases have been slower in Eastern District federal courts than in, say, the same state court in Sacramento,” Carroll said.
Underwood was unavailable for interview. City spokesperson Jennifer Singer wrote in an email that she could not speak about the case “due to pending litigation.”
The backstory
Lukenbill has been in an ongoing battle with the city since he attempted to get an entertainment permit for The Trap in mid-2024 and city inspectors subsequently cited a number of code violations.
The property dates to the mid-19th century and was in danger of being demolished in the late 2000s before the city stepped in and made some repairs. The Lukenbill family bought The Trap in 2022, with Lukenbill repeatedly telling The Bee in recent months that he had gotten in trouble for doing work the city had signed off on but never completed.
Lukenbill filed a claim against the city in late June and obtained an injunction in July after the city briefly shut The Trap’s patio after Lukenbill filed his claim.
He publicly foreshadowed his lawsuit in August. At a meeting of the city’s Housing Code and Advisory Board, shortly after the board upheld $1,550 in charges against G&SL LLC, Lukenbill told Peter Lemos, the city’s code and housing enforcement chief, “Buckle up.”
Lukenbill’s lawsuit came several weeks later.
“This is a huge problem for the city,” Lukenbill told The Sacramento Bee around the time the lawsuit was filed. “It’s a much bigger problem than The Trap.”
The city’s move to shift the case to federal court didn’t seem to be rankling Lukenbill in an interview with The Bee last week. While he said that Carroll had indicated to him that the timeline of the case could be slowed, Lukenbill didn’t express worry over what would happen due to the city’s move.
“We’re not at all concerned,” Lukenbill said. “They had the right to do that. There’s really nothing we could do to stop it.”
What happens now
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March, when a federal judge will consider a dismissal motion filed by the city last Friday.
Dale A. Drozd, a district judge appointed by then-President Barack Obama in 2015, was assigned to the case on Monday, according to Carroll.
Attorneys for the case will also have a chance in March to discuss a potential trial date. Asked if there was still a chance of settling with the city, Carroll said he’d “never say never.”
Loy said that there could potentially be some benefit to a defendant moving a case to federal court, as he thought that juries in civil trials at this level had to deliver unanimous verdicts, while state juries in civil trials did not. But the case’s move to federal court didn’t appear to be fazing Carroll.
“It’s just a different forum for the same legal claims,” Carroll said. “Generally speaking, the same legal arguments, the same facts are going to apply.”
Carroll said he felt no different about the case if it was being heard in Sacramento County or the Eastern District.
“I have the same amount of confidence and am looking forward to litigating it either place,” Carroll said.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM.
