Home » Santa Clarita News » Los Angeles County News » Los Angeles County Facing Class-Action Lawsuit Over Outdoor Dining Ban
Restaurant with guy in a mask walking

Los Angeles County Facing Class-Action Lawsuit Over Outdoor Dining Ban

A class-action lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of restaurant owners in Los Angeles County in an effort to recoup money spent on state and local fees, with officials saying that it is “offensive and tone-deaf” to force owners to pay fees for licenses and permits that they cannot currently use. 

Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), and the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (DABC) are listed as defendants in the class-action suit, which aims to help restaurant owners recover the money they were forced to spend on fees such as liquor licenses, health permits and state tourism assessments.

“We’re talking a couple of thousand dollars for the county permit and a couple of thousand dollars for the alcohol permit depending on the size of the restaurant and we recognize that, on an individual basis, it’s not a lot of money for these restaurants but even returning a few thousand dollars right now can make the difference between them succeeding, laying people off or not laying people off,” said Brian Kabateck, lead plaintiff attorney, in a statement Monday. “We simply want the government to return those fees to those restaurants who followed the law and closed.” 

Kabateck said that all restaurants within the county are automatically part of the class in the suit, which seeks to force relevant state and county agencies to reimburse restaurant owners involved in the suit, as well as have injunctive relief preventing the county and state from levying fees, taxes, and other charges against the owners.

“In just principles of fairness and equities of the law, you can’t close somebody down and still keep their money,” Kabateck told KHTS over the phone on Tuesday. “It’s not fair and it’s not reasonable.”

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurant owners across the county and state to face “unprecedented challenges to stay open and maintain cash reserves amid new operating restrictions.”

“It’s offensive and tone-deaf for these entities to enforce these rules and charge fees for licenses and permits these businesses can’t use,” Kabateck said in Monday’s statement.           

Lead plaintiff Walter Schild, the CEO of Culinary Lab, which operates 33 Taps gastropub in Hollywood, says that he had “no choice but to file a lawsuit” after he was unable to get his roughly $7,000 in fees reduced or delayed.

“We kept getting bills, then they were sending late payments, then they were threatening to revoke my license,” he told KHTS in a phone interview Tuesday.

Schild was being charged late fees as large as 50% for failing to pay fees, despite the fact that his restaurant had been closed for almost the entire time period since March.

“I’m not a McDonalds, most small restaurants that do take-out actually lose money,” he said. “My restaurant is out of business.”

See Related: Santa Clarita Restaurants Crippled By Latest Shutdown Of Outdoor Dining

Schild’s business is one the over 31,000 restaurants in Los Angeles County that was forced to close their outdoor dining operations in November after the LADPH modified the county’s Public Health Order.

Officials with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) estimated that 700,000 jobs in the food industry would be lost in this shutdown, 75 percent of which would be for those earning $50,000 or less.

“Even when the restrictions are lifted, the devastating impact on the restaurant industry will extend for years,” said Jot Condie, president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association. “Restaurants have not received any form of relief. Easing fees would help enable establishments to stay open and keep vulnerable workers employed.”

The impacts of COVID-19 health restrictions have been felt throughout California, and across the nation. According to the complaint issued Monday, nearly 70% of California’s restaurant owners are currently at risk of being evicted.

Additionally, a survey by the National Restaurant Association published in September found that out of the nearly 100,000 restaurants they represent nationwide: 

  • Nearly 1 in 6 are closed either permanently or long-term 
  • Nearly three million restaurant employees are out of work
  • The restaurant industry is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year
  • Most don’t expect their position to improve over the next six months.

“Ironically, the same County and State government officials who forced the closure of these businesses have also been continuing to collect a wide range of government fees under the threat of revoking licenses and permits,” the complaint reads.

According to Kabateck, both Los Angeles County and the DABC have within 30 days of being served the suit to respond.

“I’m still holding out hope here that the County of Los Angeles (…) will come to their senses and come up with some kind of solution,” he told KHTS. “It’s pretty hard to disagree with this case, given what these small business owners have had to go through.”

Kabateck added that the lawsuit could take anywhere from six months to several years to reach a conclusion.

Similar class-action suits are expected to be filed in the coming weeks in places such as San Francisco County, Orange County, San Diego County, Sacramento County, Monterey County and Placer County.

“Someone has to hear us,” Schild said. “We’re doing our part to keep everyone safe with COVID, now it’s time for the county to do theirs.”

The class-action suit was filed less than a week after Judge James Chalfant ruled against Los Angeles County’s decision to ban outdoor dining in the county, stating that county officials “acted arbitrarily,” and that the decision “lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate end.”

“The County clearly has failed to perform the required risk-benefit analysis,” Chalfant wrote on Dec. 8. “As part of the risks of the closure, the County could be expected to consider the economic cost of closing 30,000 restaurants, the impact to restaurant owners and their employees, and the psychological and emotional cost to a public tired of the pandemic and seeking some form of enjoyment in their lives.”

See Related: L.A. County Health Officials Respond To Ruling Against Ban On Outdoor Dining

Chalfant’s ruling means that the department can not extend the outdoor dining ban after the initial deadline of Dec. 16 without conducting the “appropriate risk-benefit analysis.” However, outdoor dining is set to remain closed until at least Dec. 27 due to California’s Stay at Home Order, which was issued on Dec. 6.

“By failing to weigh the benefits of an outdoor dining restriction against its costs, the County acted arbitrarily and its decision lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate end,” Chalfant wrote.

Chalfant cited the department’s own data in his ruling, which tracks all non-residential settings at which three or more laboratory-confirmed COVID cases have been identified.  Out of the 204 locations on the list, fewer than 10% are restaurants, and of the 2,257 cases identified on the list, fewer than 5% originate from restaurants.

For their part, LADPH officials called their approach “scientific and common sense,” citing that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were beginning to surge at the time they were considering the outdoor dining ban, and stating that Chalfant “incorrectly analyzed” the decision by Public Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis to issue the order.

“Davis made the decision to issue the restaurant closure order based on the evidence that COVID spreads most easily when individuals from different households are in close proximity to one another for prolonged periods of time, without wearing masks,” reads a portion of the department’s response listed in the over 50-page injunction. “Restaurant dining was the only remaining setting where this was largely still permitted, and while dining outdoors is less risky than dining indoors, the nature of dining together at a restaurant still presents a substantial risk of viral transmission.”

Within the injunction, the department admitted that they had “not conducted a clinical study on how outdoor dining affects the transmission rates of COVID,” arguing that such a study would “provide minimal value in deciding how to respond to an emergency like the COVID pandemic.”

“There is wide consensus that risk reduction in a pandemic does not require definitive proof that a particular sector or activity is the cause of an increase in cases,” the county’s evidence portion of the injunction reads. “Best practices dictate that public health departments identify those sectors and activities that present a higher risk of transmission and take steps to mitigate those risks, especially during a surge in cases and hospitalizations like we are now experiencing.

An additional 11,194 coronavirus cases were reported in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, along with 86 additional deaths. In the Santa Clarita Valley, 150 new COVID-19 cases were reported.


Sponsored Articles


Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or send an email to newstip@hometownstation.com. Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking KHTS Santa Clarita News Alerts delivered right to your inbox. Report a typo or error, email Corrections@hometownstation.com

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

KHTS AM 1220 & FM 98.1 - Santa Clarita Radio - Santa Clarita News

Los Angeles County Facing Class-Action Lawsuit Over Outdoor Dining Ban

10 comments

  1. Good. I read the 4 of the supervisors voted to close the restaurants outdoor dining because it was extremely dangerous according to one .. who then one promptly went out to lunch outside after voting to end outdoor dining. .

    I also read they did it to detour going out aka lockdown.

    Only 2 supervisors Kathryn & Janet said no to the closure, they’ll have my vote next election.

  2. I hope people understand that the ban on outdoor dining is directly correlated to the increase in Covid numbers, not some bizarre punishment. When the numbers go down we get life as we knew it back. Do your part to stop the spread and lower the cases. Kathryn and Janet absolutely do not get my vote. They are part of the problem. When the numbers go down, businesses reopen, jobs come back, schools/colleges resume at their facilities, its not rocket science, it’s simple logic which seems to be beyond comprehension for far too many.

  3. Shadow, they have to provide evidence of contact tracing that links cases to outdoor dining and by their own admission, they don’t have this data. It just “feels right” to them to close these activities. They are not using data and science to drive closure decisions, only what feels right. 74% of cases trace to in-home contact and only 1.2% to bars and restaurants. They know what the sources are but won’t shut those down for political reasons linked to behaviors of certain groups. We are all paying the price for this. Again by their own admission.

    • Exactly. Well said.

    • -The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 40% of infections are asymptomatic.

      –The greater the number of people, the more likely someone in the restaurant has the coronavirus. And, even if they don’t know it, they can spread it to others, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

      -Adults who tested positive for COVID-19 were about “twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant” than those who tested negative, according to a CDC study published in September.

      -Restaurants were by far the riskiest places, about four times riskier than gyms and coffee shops, followed by hotels” in terms of new infections, said Jure Leskovec, a computer scientist at Stanford University

      -“If you’re physically outside, but you put a tent over the dining space that effectively seals all that air in, then you’re really not outside at all. You’re sharing the common air with everybody else who’s in that tent, then it’s really not different from being indoors,” said Craig Hedberg, professor and interim division head at the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

  4. so no protesters out side standing shoulder to shoulder waving their stupid flags and card board signs screaming defund the police or i matter had NOTHING to do with spreading the covid, you listen to dictatorship.. and cant think for yourself.. wake up. soon you will have NO food establishments or bars or ice cream shops because of people like you..people are eating out side in an open air area, Newsom was eating inside, our tables are spread out his wasn’t so keep listen to the little voices in your head or keep watching youtube, a great place for the most accurate info

  5. Where are these protestors you talk about? Where in Santa Clarita? The only protestors I’ve seen in Santa Clarita are the Trump rallies and BLM protestors, but I haven’t seen them for weeks and weeks, certainly the Trump protestors more often. I haven’t seen much protesting in LA county at all recently. However, Covid is going stronger than ever right now. Right here in your county. Number are surging.

    And by the way, I agree protesting should be banned, along with gathering for religious services.

  6. This is great. But how can Personal Care Services tag along with this? Tattoo shops are as sanitary if not more so then clinics, dental offices and ect. When or how can We have our time. We have BBP certs (blood born pathogin), County, city and even CPR and what not. Why are tattoo shops still shut down?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Michael Brown

Michael Brown has lived in Santa Clarita his whole life. Graduating from Saugus High School in 2016, he continued to stay local by attending The Master’s University, where he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. Michael joined KHTS in January of 2018 as a news intern, and has since gone on to become the News Director for the KHTS Newsroom. Since joining KHTS, Michael has covered many breaking news stories (both on scene and on air), interviewed dozens of prominent state and federal political figures, and interacted with hundreds of residents from Santa Clarita. When he is not working, Michael enjoys spending time with his family, as well as reading any comic book he can get his hands on.