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A group of five bars in Hawaii have filed a class action lawsuit against the state, the city of Honolulu and public officials over orders that have kept their businesses shut down throughout most of the coronavirus pandemic.
The tight regulations on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where COVID-19 cases spiked earlier this year, have crippled the bar and nightclub industry while restaurants that serve alcohol have been able to reopen, the class action lawsuit claims.
Business owners say the government’s orders to keep the bars closed indefinitely are unfair and unconstitutional, according to KITV.
Kelley O’Neil’s, the Irish Rose Saloon; Anna O’Brien’s; O’Toole’s Irish Pub; and Dos Kalbos Enterprises, which operates Suzie Wong’s Hideaway, joined forces to file the class action lawsuit Oct. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. The bars, all in Honolulu, named the state of Hawaii; Gov. David Ige; state Attorney General Clare E. Connors; the city of Honolulu; its mayor, Kirk Caldwell; and its city council as defendants in the case.
The bar owners are asking the court to issue an injunction against the city and state orders, allowing them to reopen immediately. They are also seeking the court’s approval to represent all other bars and nightclubs affected by the coronavirus pandemic shutdown as representatives of a class whose rights have been infringed upon, the class action lawsuit says.
“What were initially billed as temporary measures necessary to ‘flatten the curve’ and protect hospital capacity have become open-ended restrictions aimed at a very different end — namely, stopping the spread of an infectious disease and preventing new cases from arising,” the bar owners’ filing says. While courts might allow elected officials some leeway in ordering restrictions during an emergency, the class action lawsuit argues “cannot go on forever.”
“It is now late October and Defendants have no anticipated end-date to their emergency interventions,” the class action lawsuit says.
Caldwell adopted a four-tier reopening plan for the island of Oahu in September that holds bars and nightclubs back until the region reaches Tier 4 status. Tier 4 is “a low level of community spread that is easily handled by the public health system and healthcare system,” with fewer than 20 cases and a 1% positivity rate.
The mayor said the plan was aimed at avoiding the fate that befell Oahu after a three-week bar-and-nightclub closure instituted July 31. When that closure was lifted, Hawaii experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases.
“We didn’t want to repeat what we did the first time, where we rushed to the finish line,” Caldwell said when he announced the current reopening strategy, the Star Advertiser reported. “Instead [we] are looking at it as a marathon.”
According to Pacific Business News, at least 10 bars on Oahu were cited by the state during the summer for failing to adhere to social-distancing and mask-wearing requirements.
Later, two bars in Honolulu were linked to a cluster of about a dozen cases of COVID-19, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
Even so, the bar owners who are suing the state and city say “the response to this pandemic or any emergency for that matter cannot be permitted to undermine our system of constitutional liberties or the system of checks and balances protecting those liberties.”
“There was, and there is, no rationale that supports the decision to keep bars and nightlife venues closed,” the class action lawsuit goes on to argue.
The owners of the bars in Hawaii say the lockdown has cost them several million dollars and they have been forced to lay off “countless employees throughout Honolulu.”
Meanwhile, restaurants that also serve alcohol have been allowed to reopen on Oahu, which the plaintiffs claim is evidence they are being denied their lawful rights.
“The executive shutdown orders deprive [the plaintiffs] … of the equal protection of the law because they allow all restaurants with bars on Oahu, and all restaurants and bars outside Honolulu to operate, albeit at a reduced capacity,” the five bar owners argue in their class action complaint.
Do you own a bar or nightclub in Hawaii that has been shut down by state or city regulations due to the coronavirus pandemic? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Lead plaintiff Kelley O’Neil’s and the proposed Class Members are represented by James D. DiPasquale of DiPasquale & Summers LLP.
The Bars in Hawaii Class Action Lawsuit is Kelley O’Neil’s Inc., et al. v David Ige, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00449-LEK-RT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.
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