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A federal judge has ordered New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to respond quickly to a Brooklyn business’ argument that the restaurant curfew put in place as part of the governor’s pandemic rules does more to hurt business than it does to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan said he is aware of the “urgency” of the dispute, according to Law360.
“We’re here about the whole thing, which is whether the state can keep people closed at all,” Judge Cogan said.
The plaintiff, Columbus Ale House, doing business as The Graham, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, requesting an expedited response from Cuomo because of the curfew’s Sept. 30 deadline.
According to the motion, the new midnight curfew is part of a set of pandemic rules announced Sept. 9 to slow the coronavirus outbreak.
During his press conference, Cuomo announced New York City restaurants could resume indoor dining at 25% capacity, with no service allowed after midnight, the motion said. However, at the time, the governor did not offer any explanation as to how the curfew would be beneficial in stemming the coronavirus outbreak.
Later, in response to media inquiries, a Cuomo spokesperson said: “Bars are closed in 10 other states and many — including Rhode Island, North Carolina, and Washington — have similar restrictions in place because they recognize that late-night service can encourage individuals to gather and mingle, increasing the risk of COVID transmission.”
But, the plaintiff’s motion argues, New York’s curfew doesn’t affect “bars,” but rather restaurants, “for which there is little or no precedent of doing the same anywhere in the country, including the remainder of New York State.”
Bars are still prohibited from operating at all, the motion says.
The Graham argues that the food curfew is “arbitrary and unsupported by anything except speculation and the Governor’s bias against the people of New York City.” Therefore, the restaurant and bar has requested the preliminary injunction before the curfew is allowed to go into effect at the end of the month.
The plaintiff also points out that when Cuomo announced the new restrictions Sept. 9, he announced myriad additional requirements for New York City “that have never, and still will not, apply to the rest of the state – including the challenged midnight food curfew.”
The motion points out that while New York and particularly New York City were among the places in the U.S. hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak, “it also recovered the quickest, and the state as a whole had the ‘flattest’ curve of any state in the union” since its coronavirus outbreak peak — five months ago.
“… [T]here is no reason to think that at this time, New York City is in any way more vulnerable than other parts of the state,” the motion argues.
With its motion for a preliminary injunction, the plaintiff asks the Court to order Cuomo to “show cause as to why the challenged rule should not be preliminarily enjoined and hold a hearing as soon as practical on the matter;” to stop enforcement of the food curfew; and to stop the state from “issuing or enforcing any substantially similar rules.”
What do you think of a restaurant curfew as a means of combating the coronavirus outbreak? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by the Law Office of Jonathan Corbett.
The Brooklyn Pandemic Rules Curfew Lawsuit is Columbus Ale House Inc. d/b/a “The Graham” v. Andrew M. Cuomo, Case No. 1:20-cv-04291, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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