Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant declined to sign an order that would uphold a COVID-19 ban on outdoor dining Wednesday and instead asked health officials for evidence as to why the prohibition should remain.
“This is one of those restrictions that may have made sense nine months ago to say that all restaurant dining should close but we know so much more today,” attorney Brian Kabateck said. “So, can we just unilaterally let these kinds of regulations go into place? There's no check on the government. A non-elected official is making these determinations, which is then later approved by the County supervisors, but there are no checks on this.”
The Board of Supervisors narrowly voted to uphold the closure, which took effect on Nov. 24 for three weeks and which is separate from the coronavirus Safer at Home order imposed by the state on Nov. 28.
“The County needs to come up with a credentialed epidemiologist who would say there's definitely a link and here's why there's a link,” Kabateck told the Southern California Record. “That would be the minimum threshold and then you would expect them to come up with some kind of a study that shows the danger of eating outside. The second step is showing there is no less intrusive means than completely closing restaurants.”
As previously reported in Southern California Record, Kabateck is preparing a class-action lawsuit that, if successful, would return millions in permit fees to restaurant owners that the state collected when the eateries were closed or only partially open.
The current ban on outdoor dining was initiated by county health officials to curb a sudden surge in COVID cases throughout the county, according to media reports.
“This ban in Los Angeles has crossed the Rubicon,” Kabateck said in an interview. “At some point in time, the government has to give a rational basis for its decisions and not just simply say this is dangerous. They can't do that. You're taking away business owner's livelihood, employee's livelihood and restricting significant freedom of your people when you make these kinds of orders.”
Some 1.3 million coronavirus cases are reported and 19,791 deaths statewide, according to the California COVID-19 dashboard. In Los Angeles County alone, there are 424,164 cases and 7,842 fatalities.
“If you close restaurants, then you're just forcing people into their homes to hang out and eat meals whereas outdoor dining is probably safer than going into each other's homes because there are precautionary measures at restaurants that they don't necessarily have at home,” Kabateck said.