SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Restaurants are hanging by a thread over pandemic restrictions, and an Encinitas-based attorney keeps them open with the help of the constitution.
“They are in a battle for survival,” said Curran & Curran Law’s partner Michael Curran.
According to Yelp, nearly 98,000 businesses across the country were permanently closed between March and September.
‘You know we sat on our couch,’ Curran said as he and his wife were trying to think of ways to help, ‘[we were] researching the First Amendment and figuring out why restaurants cannot protest peacefully while running their restaurants? And the legal reason is, there is no reason why not. “
Curran said the constitution will protect their livelihood, just as it will protect someone’s right to hold a sign during a protest.
“The highest law in the country is the Constitution. It is in effect and in effect at all times, in the event of an alleged pandemic and not,” he said.
This comes after Encinitas mayor Catherine Blakespear said on Thursday that she will collect street and sidewalk permits from restaurants defying the order.
She maintained her stance in a press release issued Friday to ABC 10News, in which she read, in part, “At the moment, with takeout only, we cannot have restaurants that use public right-of-way to violate county health regulations. “
She said on her website that the pandemic is “a serious health issue – we all need to do better”. She cited a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the past month as a cause for concern.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for accountability.
Gloria said he ordered San Diego police and asked the city attorney to issue fines and other enforcement action against blatant offenders and people who repeatedly violate health regulations.
“Through human history, we have never really been shut down for a pandemic,” said El Cajon Mayor Dr. Bill Wells.
He was a supporter of companies that stayed open during the pandemic and said lockdowns don’t work and there is no ‘hiding from the virus’.
Dr. Wells said the future will bring serious economic challenges: “I don’t think anyone has any idea of what it takes to get back to appearing normal. I think it’s going to be a multi-year process, probably a decade. “
He hopes that vaccines will turn the tide and that we all learn something from them.
“I hope that we as a society learn something from this and take a look at our laws so that no longer can anyone under the guise of a crisis take over an entire state like California with 40 million people without someone to respond to and all their leadership getting public health officials who are completely unelected and have very limited focus, ”he said.
Curran said his clients hope they don’t go to court, but are willing to fight if necessary.