A restaurant owner in upstate New York is joining others in a lawsuit against Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying that “it has been difficult to watch” his customers go to restaurants in a nearby county instead of his because of less restrictive measures against coronavirus.
“We are in our busiest season and many of our customers are only going a few miles ahead, in some cases, crossing the street and dining indoors,” said Greg Duell, co-owner of in Erie County, “Fox & Friends First “on Tuesday.
He is not allowed to host customers for meals indoors because of the coronavirus restrictions imposed by Cuomo, even though the state released contact tracking data that showed that bars and restaurants accounted for just 1.43% of COVID-19 cases. in the three months ending in November.
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Erie County is considered an “orange zone” in the state of New York. Indoor dining is prohibited in “orange zones”, so restaurants, bars, cafes and other restaurants can only offer outdoor dining and take-out service, according to New York State rules.
Duell’s customers now frequent restaurants in the vicinity of Niagara County, which is considered a “yellow zone”, where dining is allowed in indoor and outdoor areas.
As of Tuesday, Erie County has reported nearly 40,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 1,100 deaths.
Duell explained that “what really pushed us” into the process, which WKBW-TV said included about 40 other restaurants, “was when the state released data showing the [COVID-19] the transmission rate in restaurants was only 1.43%. ”
“We just don’t believe it justifies an industry-wide shutdown and they need to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine that it might not be worth closing our industry,” he said.
Duell’s lawyer, Steve Cohen, who works at HoganWillig PLLC and is the lead attorney for the case, told Fox & Friends First on Tuesday that his company has six lawsuits in the state of New York. HoganWillig is representing people across the country, mainly in the states of Pennsylvania, California and New York, he said.
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“We are in a constitutional crisis and some excellent decisions have come out of the courts that show that the actions that have been taken by the governors of the states of New York, California and Pennsylvania are unconstitutional,” said Cohen. “The problem is that these governors are not following the court’s orders.”
Cohen also noted the comments made by Supreme Court judge Neil Gorsuch regarding a New York case in which religious groups alleged that Cuomo unfairly targeted religion, keeping services and places of worship in a stricter standard than other services and businesses “essential”.
Gorsuch violated Cuomo’s prohibitions in a scathing concordant opinion.
“It’s time – it’s past time – to make it clear that, although the pandemic poses many serious challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive decrees that reopen liquor and bicycle shops, but close churches, synagogues and mosques, “wrote Gorsuch.
Cohen said the governor ignored Gorsuch.
“It had no effect on the governor and this is alarming,” said Cohen.
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A spokesman for Governor Cuomo said that legal challenges to political decisions are normal.
“We are prosecuted virtually every day for virtually every action taken during this pandemic and, frankly, I lost control of all the frivolous lawsuits brought against us,” said the spokesman. “We know that some people are unhappy, but it is better to be unhappy than to be sick, or worse.”
Duell was not harmed by that statement.
“As the owner of this restaurant and the many owners who are involved in this case, we feel that we have a responsibility to stand up and defend our livelihood and the livelihood of our employees,” he said in response to the statement from the Cuomo office. “Restaurants can do this safely. We have done this safely. There is so much unnecessary pain caused by these closings.”
He and other restaurant owners believe that “it is time for the governor to realize that his own data shows that we can do this safely”.
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When asked what comes next in the fight, Cohen said: “We will continue the legal path and obtain legal decisions that point out how unfounded these actions are, are contrary to the facts and are unconstitutional.”
Ronn Blitzer of Fox News contributed to this report.