Not just strip clubs and churches: Bars start suing over NC coronavirus rules, too
The owner of an axe-throwing bar in Hickory says North Carolina’s stay-at-home orders violate his constitutional rights. So does the owner of a popular beach bar in Southport.
And those are just two individual bars that have sued Gov. Roy Cooper over his coronavirus executive orders keeping them closed. Late Thursday afternoon a large group of bars, calling itself the N.C. Bar & Tavern Association, filed its own lawsuit.
Add those lawsuits to the growing pile of legal challenges saying Cooper can’t keep certain sectors of the state economy shut down as officials try to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Churches have sued. So have gyms, trampoline parks and strip clubs.
In the Hickory lawsuit, Patriot Axe Throwing owner Michael Pastelak estimates his business alone already lost $55,000 after being forced to close in March, and allowed to only partially reopen last month. No governor should have “unchecked and unbridled” power to order businesses to close, his lawsuit argues.
In the Southport lawsuit, an oceanfront bar in Brunswick County called American Fish Co. questions the logic of Cooper’s latest order: that restaurants, wineries and breweries can begin partially reopening but bars cannot.
“There is no public health justification for the disparate treatment,” the lawsuit says, adding that the bar’s seating is almost entirely outdoors.
Zack Medford, who owns several Raleigh bars and has been speaking for the Bar & Tavern Association, agreed with that sentiment when that group filed its own lawsuit Thursday.
“Despite our numerous requests, the governor’s office has offered no science or data showing that having a drink in a private bar is more dangerous than having a drink in a brewery bar, distillery bar, or even a restaurant bar,” Medford said in a news release.
However, in responding to the Southport lawsuit the state’s top health official, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, submitted an affidavit saying that people in bars are stationary for long periods of time, and would tend to take off any face masks they might be wearing.
“In both outdoor and indoor venues where alcohol consumption was expected and part of the entertainment environment, patrons’ compliance with personal protection measures is likely to decrease — adding to concern about increased viral spread,” she said.
The Southport lawsuit, however, argues the same could be said of restaurants, which were allowed to reopen.
“While Plaintiff understands the governor’s good intentions and exemplary work during the pandemic, it is against the Constitution of North Carolina to arbitrarily determine what businesses can open and which cannot,” the lawsuit states.
Cooper has continued to defend his authority to issue business restrictions and the public health reasoning behind them. He and other health officials say they’ve helped North Carolina “flatten the curve,” or prevent spikes in COVID-19 cases that would overwhelm hospitals.
“I know that it is a tough time for business, and I believe there will be a time when we can open bars,” Cooper said in a news conference last week. “But that time is not now. ... We’ve got to keep the health and safety of North Carolinians as our No. 1 priority.”
Still, civil rights advocates have sued twice, seeking early release for some at-risk prison inmates. And another lawsuit challenged Cooper’s executive order that utilities providers have to give people more time to pay their bills before cutting off their service.
After Cooper issued his initial shutdown and stay-at-home orders in March, he announced a three-phase reopening plan in April. The plan relies public health data, including testing, positive cases and other trends, to determine when the state can further ease restrictions. The state is currently in Phase Two, which has allowed restaurants and retail to reopen with limited capacity.
Courts typically back Cooper
Not all of the lawsuits have been ruled on yet As the legislature gets involved, pushing for a faster reopening of bars and restaurants, it’s possible that other lawsuits could be filed, or some existing lawsuits could be dropped.
But in the lawsuit rulings so far, Cooper’s administration has mostly come out on top. For example, while the strip club lawsuit is still ongoing, the judge denied the businesses’ request to be able to reopen immediately.
Cooper lost the church lawsuit, however, on May 16 — while Phase One was still in effect. That meant religious services were allowed indoors and with larger crowds, despite his executive order restricting indoor gatherings to no more than 10 people. Cooper decided not to appeal, and some county sheriffs announced they would not enforce the rules for churches, even if they did see violations.
Now, in Cooper’s “Safer at Home” order, or Phase Two, Cooper included a section that said religious services — such as church, funerals and wedding ceremonies — would be exempted from the rules that still applied to other places around the state.
Meanwhile, the toll of coronavirus has kept increasing. Last week North Carolina set record highs two days in a row for the number of people hospitalized COVID-19, The News & Observer reported. The hospitalizations have since dropped from that peak of just over 700 to, on Thursday, 659 people.
Thursday also marked North Carolina’s 1,000th coronavirus death.
Transparency lawsuit
Cooper is also facing lawsuits from media groups.
Last week The N&O, Charlotte Observer and two dozen other media outlets around the state filed a lawsuit over the state’s lack of transparency during the coronavirus pandemic. It cites numerous public records requests that have gone unanswered, including records related to public health data, the state’s efforts to purchase personal protective equipment, and more.
Cooper defended the state’s transparency efforts when asked about the lawsuit at a press conference.
“Number one, we want to make sure that we comply with the public records laws and I want to make sure that every agency in state government does that,” Cooper said. “Number two, this administration is making a lot of data available, particularly as it relates to COVID-19 and working hard to make sure that data is available more and more every single day.”
The lawsuit lists 26 different public records requests that have gone unanswered.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Not just strip clubs and churches: Bars start suing over NC coronavirus rules, too."
