An empty restaurant is seen in New York. (Photo by Jeenah Moon / Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATED 10:10 AM PT – Friday, January 1, 2021
New York restaurant owners have filed multiple lawsuits in recent weeks to restore their businesses, which were largely closed during the pandemic.
The latest lawsuits were filed this week as restaurant owners said they were frustrated by the frequent changes to the rules that prevent them from serving meals indoors. Many of these restaurants operate in the orange areas of the state, which limits business to outdoor dining, dining or delivery.
With forecasts for the state raising temperatures just above freezing, outdoor dining is fading as an option.
The owners argued that the standards for orange zone restrictions continue to change, basing closures on positive cases of COVID-19 one day and then on hospital beds available the next. They also said that the data show that less than 1.5% of the spread of COVID-19 is due to restaurants, most of the spread being attributed to private assemblies.
“So the question is, are these extreme closure actions, the practical closure of these restaurants for serving meals, internal meals, reasonable in these conditions? The economic impact on the business owner and all employees is reasonable, given the extremely low transmission rate that occurs, “said lawyer Adam Gee.
A group of about 40 restaurant owners in upstate New York have sued to allow their businesses to reopen. Reports say a judge is telling the state to reach a compromise or provide scientific evidence to support the restrictions.
“We need a personal tax, with my family, with my children. You know that this year’s Christmas was extremely difficult, almost embarrassing. I felt ashamed, I almost can’t afford, you know, to allow me to take care of my family, “said Brandon Carr, the owner of the neighborhood. “We still have to find a way to feed ourselves with all the food, to find new staff, to come up with new pay systems and everything.”
In New York, the hospitality alliance has argued that a ban on indoor dining does more harm than good, saying about a thousand restaurants have closed and tens of thousands of jobs in the industry have been lost.
The office of Governor Andrew Cuomo (DN.Y.) indicated that the state is facing multiple lawsuits regarding restrictions.