SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Restaurants are hanging around due to pandemic restrictions and an Encinitas lawyer is keeping them open with the help of the constitution.
“They are in a battle for their own survival,” said partner Michael Curran of Curran & Curran Law.
Nearly 98,000 businesses across the country closed permanently between March and September, according to Yelp.
“You know we were sitting on our couch,” Curran said that he and his wife were trying to think of ways to help, “[we were] researching the first amendment and I thought why can’t restaurants protest peacefully in the process of running their restaurants? And the legal reason is that there is no reason not to. “
Curran said the constitution would protect his livelihood, as well as protecting anyone’s right to hold a sign during a protest.
“The country’s maximum law is the constitution. It is in full force and effect at all times, in a supposed pandemic and not, ”he said.
This came after Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear said on Thursday that she would be clearing streets and sidewalks of restaurants that defied order.
She maintained her position in a press release released on Friday to ABC 10News, reading in part “At the moment, with only takeout food allowed, we cannot have restaurants using the public right of way to violate health orders. county.”
On her website, she said the pandemic is a “serious health emergency – we all need to improve.” She cited an increase in coronavirus cases in the past month as a cause for concern.
On Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order demanding accountability.
Gloria said she ordered the San Diego Police Department and asked the city’s attorney to prosecute fines and other coercive actions against flagrant violators and people who repeatedly violate health orders.
“Throughout human history, we have never closed for a pandemic,” said the mayor of El Cajon, Dr. Bill Wells.
He has supported companies that remain open during the pandemic, saying that the blockages do not work and that there is no way to “hide the virus”.
Dr. Wells said the future will bring serious economic challenges: “I don’t think anyone has any understanding of what it will take to return to any appearance of normal. I think it will be a multi-year process, probably a decade.”
He hopes that vaccines will turn the tide and that we will all learn something from it.
“I hope that we as a society will learn something from this and take a look at our laws, so that no one else under the guise of a crisis can take over an entire state like California with 40 million people with no one to respond to and receive all guidelines from public health officials who are completely unelected and have a very narrow focus, “he said.
Curran said his clients hope they don’t have to go to court, but are ready to fight if the need arises.