A San Jose church is still wrangling with the state even though other churches have settled their lawsuits alleging unconstitutional COVID-19 restrictions.
“This case is different because we're not just dealing with the First Amendment,” said Advocates for Faith & Freedom attorney Mariah Gondeiro who represents Calvary Chapel of San Jose. “We are dealing also now with the Eighth Amendment, which is cruel and unusual punishment. It’s about holding government officials accountable when they overstep.”
As previously reported in the Southern California Record, Calvary Church sued Santa Clara County in the Northern District of California federal court in October 2020, seeking damages for violations of constitutional rights and violations of religious liberties after the state banned indoor church services last year.
“We're still in the middle of it but, so far in discovery, I have not seen any justification for their disparate treatment of churches or their orders in general,” Gondeiro told the Southern California Record. “There was no scientific justification in their reasoning for deeming certain sectors essential and other sectors not. There's no evidence that those essential businesses were less dangerous. It was arbitrary.”
The church and its pastor, Mike McClure, recently added Santa Clara County counsel James Williams to their federal lawsuit as a defendant who allegedly engaged in prohibited First Amendment retaliation.
“Not only has Santa Clara County fined the church over $2.8 million for violating arbitrary COVID-19 orders, but they have also sought to hold the church and McClure in contempt twice, and then sent threatening letters to the church’s bank,” Gondeiro said in a phone interview. “This is government abuse at its finest.”
In a December 2020 letter and January 2021 follow-up, Williams informed Calvary’s bank that the church had been held in contempt and fined for violating COVID-19 orders, which resulted in the church’s bank sending a notice of default for noncompliance with governmental regulations and nonpayment of fines.
“The County of Santa Clara provides notice to you that violations of public health orders and court orders by Calvary Chapel San Jose and its Senior Pastor, Mike McClure, may affect your interests in the above-referenced property,” wrote Williams to Cass Commercial Bank on Dec. 15, 2020. “Fines against the church for violating the County's public health orders currently exceed $1 million. The County has recorded multiple Notices of Violation and Notices of lmposition of Administrative Fines against the property.”
Williams omitted the fact that Calvary was contesting the fines and once Cass Commercial Bank learned that Calvary had contested the fines, their default notice was withdrawn, according to a press release.
“Government officials should not do these types of things,” Gondeiro added. “If you don't like what someone's doing, challenge it in court. It was so inappropriate for him to do that. I've been representing a lot of churches and most of all of our cases are pretty much settled except for Calvary’s and this is by far the most egregious behavior. No one even comes close.”
In July, the Southern California Record reported that the state of California agreed to pay Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry $1.35 million to settle litigation.