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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RECORD

Thursday, October 31, 2024

LA restaurant demands the state refund permit money after pandemic closure

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Brian S. Kabateck

A Los Angeles restaurant is leveraging claims against the state-run Department of Alcohol Beverage Control and county agencies to secure a refund in liquor, health, and tourism fees, according to media reports. 

The claims were filed as a precursor to a planned class-action lawsuit. State and county agencies or officials have 45 days to respond. However, Brian Kabateck, the attorney who filed the claim, said he has not heard from either state or county officials and the deadline is December 10.

“I’m not surprised because that’s how the government works,” he said. “In theory, the government is supposed to reach out to you during those 45 days and try to resolve it but I've been doing this more than 30 years and I've never seen that happen. Nobody else gets advance notice before there's a lawsuit filed but the government gets advanced notice in California.”

The restaurant wants a refund for the fees they were charged during the pandemic because they were shut down or only partially allowed to operate.

“It's usually a couple of thousand dollars for the county permit and a couple of thousand dollars for the alcohol permit depending on the size of your restaurant and we recognize that, on an individual basis, we're not talking about a lot of money for these restaurants but even returning a few thousand dollars right now can make the difference between them succeeding, laying people off or not laying people off,” Kabateck told the Southern California Record.

The claim is pending in Los Angeles superior court.

“It's for all the restaurants in the counties and once it's a class action complaint filed in court, it will be on behalf of all of them but like every class action, we only need one class represented,” Kabateck said in an interview.

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new COVID-19 restrictions that placed 28 counties in the purple zone effective Nov. 17, according to a statement online.

Purple tier restrictions include limiting indoor retailers and malls to 25% capacity while closing food courts and houses of worship, for instance.

“No one can explain to me not allowing restaurants to open and operate outdoors,” Kabateck said. “Los Angeles just closed down all outdoor dining. How does that make any sense? There's no evidence that people are getting sick from outdoor dining. So, my view of this is we've abused the restaurants long enough. Let's at least give them some of their permit money back.”

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