Lawsuits filed over ‘nonessential’ businesses and right to protest
Two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of those in California when it comes to nonessential businesses being able to operate and the ability to publicly protest
The Dhillon Law Group, Inc. and Geragos & Geragos filed a federal lawsuit on Friday on behalf of a coalition of “nonessential” small businesses located in Southern California claiming the shelterin-place orders are unconstitutional and they should be allowed to open while staying within federal guidelines for social distancing.
The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Gondola Adventures Inc., Hernandez Productions, Inc., King’s Pet Grooming, Inc., Sol De Mexico, Inc., Wildfire Inc., Ybanz Gonzalez Inc., and Yreka Food Enterprises, LLC, names the following defendants: Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Director and State Public Health Officer Sonia Angell, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“We’ve got small businesses that have been effectively put out of business or forced to close literally without rhyme or reason,” said Mark Geragos of Geragos & Geragos. “Our country was built on the premise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and today in 2020 those freedoms are being stripped away from law-abiding citizens and businesses without rational thought or a rational basis. We filed this action to enforce the Constitution and ask that our Public officials do the same.”
“Several weeks into this COVID-19 shutdown, we are thankful to learn that California is faring significantly better in battling this crisis than some other states. But California is facing a looming economic crisis of tsunami proportions if we don’t get our state back to work, safely and and with prudent health precautions to
avoid infection spikes,” said Dhillon Law Group, Inc. managing partner, Harmeet K. Dhillon. “Different localities are making up different rules, picking business winners and losers, creating an increasingly chaotic and irrational patchwork of regulations that change by the day and don’t keep up with what we now know about the science and the spread of this disease.
“There is no precedent for the government suspending some but not all economic activity in the state for an indefinite period of time, and thereby depriving millions of Californians of their livelihoods, their businesses, even their property. Even during the Civil War and prior pandemics, suspensions of liberty were limited and tailored to the specific risks at hand. With no attempt at narrow tailoring or even a rational basis to allow some businesses to operate but not others, and no process by which to make these determinations, California’s and Los Angeles’ ongoing business shutdowns fail basic constitutional tests, and must be altered to reflect the changing reality.”
Public Protests Suit
The Center for American Liberty in coordination with the Law Office of D. Gill Sperlein and the Dhillon Law Group on behalf of clients Ron Givens and Christine “Chris” Bish, also sued Newsom, Becerra, and other state officials for their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Givens and Bish are also seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
Newsom issued his executive order on March 19 calling for all residents to “heed current State public health directives,” requiring residents to stay at home.
The suite claims the governor’s order or state public health directives should exempt demonstrations, protests, or other First Amendmentprotected
activities.
The suite also claims Newsom ordered the California Highway Patrol to deny protest/rally permits at the State Capitol.
Givens intends to protest the state’s failure to process background checks for those purchasing firearms as well as employment background checks for gun stores.
Bish plans to protest the state’s shelter-inplace order. The suit states both plan to protest at the State Capitol in a safe, socially-distant manner.
“In times of crisis, governments often seek to curtail fundamental constitutional rights such as the right to assemble and petition the government. It is precisely at these times that those rights become the most important,” said D.gill Sperlein, a lead attorney for Bish and Givens.
“At a time when Californians are rightfully questioning the duration and extent of the stay at home orders, which are unevenly enforced and which have resulted in other Constitutional challenges, Governor Newsom has reacted to citizen protests not by addressing widespread concern, but simply by shutting down protest at the Capitol altogether, making no reasonable accommodations for this fundamental function in a free society,” said Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Liberty, Harmeet K. Dhillon, whose law firm, Dhillon Law Group Inc., also represents Bish and Givens.
“Our lawsuit seeks to vindicate several core First Amendment rights — the right to free speech, to assemble, and to petition the government. The government is also violating fundamental equal protection and due process rights. We will be seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court ordering that our clients and other citizens be permitted to protest safely and peacefully again, as is their right under both the California and U.S. Constitutions.”