Restaurant owners who challenged indoor dining ban take legal action – Santa Monica Daily Press

Three dine-in restaurant owners who filed a lawsuit to seek compensation for lost revenue when indoor dining was banned due to coronavirus restrictions have dropped their case.

In their April 12 petition, petitioners James P. Trani, Steve Patrick and John Marvoich named the State of California, Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles as defendants. The three businessmen claimed the forced closures amounted to a government takeover and violated their rights of speech and assembly. Their court filings did not name the restaurants they own.

In October, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jon R. Takasugi granted a motion by the attorney general’s office to dismiss the state as a party, saying the restaurant owners had “presented no facts to show that defendants owned personal property by the state.” confiscated or used . In fact, the plaintiffs allege that they continued to operate their restaurants as takeout restaurants, albeit with reduced revenue.”

Two months later, the judge found that the county had not been properly served with the petition and reversed service. Then, on Thursday, the restaurant owners’ attorney, James Otto, filed court papers with the judge asking that the remainder of the case be dismissed. Reasons for the decision of the businessmen were not given.

According to the petition, the ban on indoor dining was “an irrational and unnecessary order to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus by punishing the irrelevant plaintiffs who are virus-free and pose absolutely no risk of spreading the virus.” .

The restaurant owners claimed the closure was “not rationally linked to any government interest, as it was not supported by evidence and defined logic, nature and/or common sense”.

Before the closures, Trani operated his restaurant for 30 years, while Marvoich’s restaurant was in the black for 20 years and Patrick’s was in the black for 11 years, the petition said. Their businesses were never the source of the COVID-19 or any other virus, the petition said.

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