Mickey’s Irish Pub is considering an out-of-court settlement concerning alcohol-related charges.

Negotiations are under way between the attorney for the corporation that owns Mickey’s Irish Pub and the state of Iowa.

If a settlement cannot be reached, a hearing on the suspension of Mickey’s liquor license is set for Jan. 4, said Ames Assistant City Attorney Judy Parks.

“The original allegation that we based the complaint on was a selling or serving alcohol after hours allegation that happened December of last year,” she said.

Other allegations against Mickey’s, 109 Welch Ave., were two counts of selling or serving alcohol to minors, one on Feb. 20, and the other on Feb. 26, Parks said.

In the Sept. 26 hearing, a suspension of 37 days – from Nov. 5 to Dec. 12 – and a $1,500 civil penalty were ordered. The penalties were close to the maximum for the three violations, Parks said.

“The original suspension had been proposed because they had not attended the original hearing,” she said.

Doug Fulton, attorney for Mipthree, Inc., the corporation that owns Mickey’s, said he filed a motion to vacate the decision because he didn’t receive notice of the hearing.

The motion to set aside the decision passed, and Parks said the proceedings are “back to square one.”

“In the matter of having to bring witnesses back and to have the whole matter re-tried again, it makes it desirable to avoid that,” she said. “The way to avoid that is to negotiate a settlement.”

Neither Parks nor Fulton could comment on the details of the settlement being discussed, but Fulton said he hopes the talks will be successful. A settlement won’t necessarily get better results than a hearing.

“It’s just an expedient way to get the matter resolved,” Fulton said. However, Parks said she thinks any settlement agreed upon would probably be lower than the penalty that was originally ordered.

Should talks fail before Jan. 4, Fulton said the next hearing probably would proceed as scheduled.

The only reason the hearing date would change is if one party or the other were to file a motion, the most likely reasons being unavailability of witnesses or unavailability of attorneys, Parks said.