The Dallas City Council has approved a $650,000 settlement to end a First Amendment lawsuit by an adult entertainment company that alleged the city violated its constitutional rights by barring it's “Exxxotica” event from the Dallas Convention Center in 2016.

Without debate, council members voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the settlement with Three Expo Events in the case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. Most discussion about the suit, Three Expo Events v. City of Dallas, likely happened behind closed doors, as the council has held numerous executive sessions over the years to discuss the ongoing litigation.

The $650,000 comes from the city's risk management fund and is meant to pay Three Expo, its attorney Roger Albright and anyone else with an interest in the case, said the city's settlement resolution.

“It is in the best interest of the city to settle this lawsuit,” said the resolution.

The city initially won a motion to dismiss the case in the trial court, based on lack of the plaintiffs' standing, but then Three Expo won an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Texas Lawyer previously reported on the Fifth Circuit ruling. Three Expo in 2015 held an Exxxotica event, featuring near nudity and sexually suggestive activities, that drew opposition from some Dallas citizens on moral and civic grounds.

In 2016, Three Expo was in the process of drafting another contract to hold Exxxotica 2016 at the convention center, but the mayor said he did not want the event to return to the city. Many council members supported the mayor's position. Even after the Dallas city attorney told the council that barring Exxxotica from the convention center would violate the business's free-speech rights, the council voted to adopt a resolution for the city to decline to enter a contract to lease the convention center for Exxxotica. Three Expo sued the city two weeks later, in February 2016.

“The mayor and the city council made clear at the city council meeting their firm and deliberate decision to exclude Exxxotica 2016 from the convention center under any circumstance and regardless of the legal consequences,” wrote Circuit Judge James Dennis.

Three Expo's lawyer, Roger Albright of Sheils Winnubst in Richardson, didn't return a call seeking comment. Neither did Dallas Assistant City Attorney Stacy Jordan Rodriguez, nor anyone in the city's public affairs office.