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Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors face a class action lawsuit from indoor mall retailers over coronavirus-related closures of their stores.
Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, including business owners and the management company operating Del Amo indoor mall in Los Angeles County, claim the closure of their stores was unfairly implemented, not based in science and is causing “substantial harm.”
The class action lawsuit is the latest in legal moves involving coronavirus against the state of California and other entities.
Following the March 11 national coronavirus emergency declaration, Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors ordered the closure of all indoor malls except for essential business on March 19. This included some 200 shops inside Del Amo.
Since then, the class action lawsuit claims Del Amo shop owners have been put through “arbitrary” rules that are “discriminatory” and “irrational.”
“The County’s order has arbitrarily deprived Plaintiffs of their core property interests and other legal rights without due process and in violation of their right to equal protection under the law,” plaintiffs said in the class action lawsuit.
On May 26, Los Angeles County lifted the closure.
Plaintiffs, including Del Amo’s management company, Simon Management Associates, said the indoor mall followed coronavirus guidelines with this reopening.
Del Amo consulted with “world-renowned” epidemiologist and public health researcher Dr. Jiali Han and certified industrial hygienist Daniel Engling to ensure safety inside the mall, according to the class action lawsuit.
Simon Management said they implemented messaging for customers to “regulate” the flow of traffic, closed common areas and modified bathrooms and elevators to make them safer. Del Amo assigned a security guard to enforce compliance and installed cameras at the doors to count people to maintain a 25% capacity.
Ensuing spikes in coronavirus infections led California to close down business in indoor malls again July 13. Los Angeles County followed suit July 14.
On Aug. 28, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a “blueprint for a safer economy,” which created a tiered system at a county level based on coronavirus cases per capita and the rate of positive coronavirus tests.
Beginning Aug. 31, counties with a “tier 1” status were permitted to reopen indoor malls with 25% capacity, according to the class action lawsuit.
By then, lead plaintiff Rivas Sports was able to open its stores in San Bernardino, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.
On Sept. 2, Los Angeles County closed indoor malls and shopping centers a third time, a move that was “out of line with statewide standards, as well as standards established by state and local governments nationwide,” the plaintiffs said.
“The County Order — and only the County Order — requires the arbitrary, irrational, and discriminatory closure of indoor malls and shopping centers.”
The resulting closures have wreaked havoc on these businesses as a result, the class action lawsuit claims.
Plaintiff Daisy Rivas “has been devastated by this sudden upheaval of her entire business” and said she may be forced to start “permanently closing locations.”
The class action lawsuit points to the conflicting differences in coronavirus guidelines given by Los Angeles County health officer Muntu Davis.
In a September order detailing the chance of exposure in certain businesses, the doctor described indoor malls as “low risk.”
“This stands in stark contrast to the County’s treatment of virtually every other retail establishment, including large and small scale retailers and even salons and barbershops — all of which were permitted to reopen immediately and operate at a minimum at 25% capacity,” the plaintiffs said in the class action lawsuit.
Even worse, the plaintiffs say, the closure does not apply to the department stores anchoring Del Amo’s indoor shopping mall because they have separate entrances.
The plaintiffs specifically cite the closure did not apply to Del Amo’s Barnes & Noble and Nordstrom stores.
“That order has resulted in the needless closure of hundreds of businesses and thrown thousands of employees out of work, devastating those businesses, their employees, and their families.”
Furthermore, they maintain the “essential” category is unfair in this instance because Los Angeles County exempts “big box” retailers from the indoor shopping rule.
“Interior retailers in the County, like Rivas Sports, uniquely remain closed, and many of their employees, like Ms. Rivas, remain out of work — without any explanation or any scientific support,” the plaintiffs said.
To date, no other jurisdiction in the U.S. other than Los Angeles County mandates indoor shopping mall closure due to the coronavirus, the class action lawsuit alleges.
“California’s measured, evidence based approach is already being implemented in nearly every county, including with the reopening of indoor malls and shopping centers in neighboring Orange and San Bernardino Counties just days after the August 28 order.”
Del Amo is one of the largest shopping malls in the U.S.
“Del Amo and its retailers — including Rivas Sports — normally employ over 5,000 individuals, and the mall ordinarily generates over $50 million in sales taxes and pays over $10 million in real estate taxes benefiting the community each year,” according to the class action lawsuit.
Are you a business owner whose business was closed due to coronavirus? Let us know in the comments below.
Counsel representing plaintiffs in the case are Michael G. Romey, Sarah F. Mitchell, Richard P. Bress, Andrew D. Prins and Eric J. Konopka of Latham & Watkins LLP.
The Los Angeles County Indoor Mall Closure Class Action Lawsuit is Rivas Sports Inc., et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-08312, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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One thought on Indoor Mall Retailers Take Legal Action Against LA County to Re-Open
We are a business owner located in the antelope valley mall. We were mandated to close due to coronavirus. We have five stores operating in the mall and are greatly affected due the closure.