SUMMIT TWP., MI -- The developers and owners of a proposed swingers club suing Summit Township over its "intentional scheme" to violate their civil rights had their lawsuit dismissed in federal court.

U.S. District Court Eastern Michigan District Judge John O'Meara dismissed the suit filed by Epicurean Developments and The Club at 4200 due to "abstention and lack of ripeness" May 24, according to court records.

According to the court order granting Summit Township's motion to dismiss the case, the court found there was substantial risk of having duplicate litigation being ruled on in the court that could result in inconsistent resolutions.

O'Meara wrote, citing the case of Colorado River Water Conservation v. United States, that federal courts abstain from deciding a federal action when there is pending state cases open that have not been completed, according to the court order.

Epicurean Developments has a pending lawsuit in the Jackson County Circuit Court regarding the township's Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to uphold halting development.

Both parties are awaiting a written opinion from Circuit Court Judge Richard LaFlamme following a hearing conducted May 6, according to court records.

Epicurean Developments additionally has a pending case in the Michigan Court of Appeals regarding its first lawsuit against Summit Township that was dismissed August 2015.

The lawsuits stem from a lengthy legal battle between the developer and the township beginning in early 2015.

Epicurean Developments bought the property located at 4200 Spring Arbor Road in December 2014 and filed building permits in January 2015.

Summit Township officials placed a stop order on renovations after a March 24, 2015 planning meeting. The property is zoned C-2, which allows clubs and lodges, but the township legal counsel argued that the term "club" refers only to "clubs like Rotary Clubs and lodges like the Masons."

Following several resubmitted applications for other C-2 zoning issues and an argument over the interpretation of the terms "clubs" and "lodges," the stop work order was upheld by the township's zoning board of appeals in November 2015.