Los Angeles — The Dhillon Law Group, Inc. and Geragos & Geragos filed a federal lawsuit on Friday on behalf of a coalition of “nonessential” small businesses located in Southern California claiming the shelter-in-place orders are unconstitutional and that they should be allowed to open while staying within federal guidelines for social distancing.
Click here to read and download the lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Gondola Adventures Inc., Hernandez Productions, Inc., King’s Pet Grooming, Inc., Sol De Mexico, Inc., Wildfire Inc., Ybanz Gonzalez Inc., and Yreka Food Enterprises, LLC, named the following defendants Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Director and State Public Health Officer Sonia Angell, Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti, and more listed in the complaint.
“We’ve got small businesses that have been effectively put out of business or forced to close literally without rhyme or reason,” said Geragos & Geragos principal, Mark Geragos. “Our country was built on the premise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and today in 2020 those freedoms are being stripped away from law-abiding citizens and businesses without rational thought or a rational basis. We filed this action to enforce the Constitution and ask that our Public officials do the same.”
“Several weeks into this COVID-19 shutdown, we are thankful to learn that California is faring significantly better in battling this crisis than some other states. But California is facing a looming economic crisis of tsunami proportions if we don’t get our state back to work, safely and and with prudent health precautions to avoid infection spikes,” said Dhillon Law Group, Inc. managing partner, Harmeet K. Dhillon. “Different localities are making up different rules, picking business winners and losers, creating an increasingly chaotic and irrational patchwork of regulations that change by the day and don’t keep up with what we now know about the science and the spread of this disease.”
“There is no precedent for the government suspending some but not all economic activity in the state for an indefinite period of time, and thereby depriving millions of Californians of their livelihoods, their businesses, even their property,” Dhillon said. “Even during the Civil War and prior pandemics, suspensions of liberty were limited and tailored to the specific risks at hand. With no attempt at narrow tailoring or even a rational basis to allow some businesses to operate but not others, and no process by which to make these determinations, California’s and Los Angeles’ ongoing business shutdowns fail basic constitutional tests, and must be altered to reflect the changing reality.”
About The Dhillon Law Group, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, California, Dhillon Law Group’s boutique business law practice spans business litigation (including alternative dispute resolution), labor and employment counseling and litigation, First Amendment litigation, corporate transactions and compliance, intellectual property protection services, contract enforcement, California campaign law, and Internet and privacy law.
5 comments
Go get em ! I’m glad these people are standing up for their rights . The constitution continues to be trampled upon and it needs to stop.
People who are protesting the shelter in place remind me of those folks who didn’t believe God was going to flood the world. It was until the waters came that they wanted to be saved. People displaying similar behavior are “Trumpers” and call themselves “Christians”-its going to be funny when the covid-19 roars back, bites them azz when there is no room for them in the Ark (hospital).
-Republicans for the rule of law
Your such a delusional nitwit.
Geragos, the ambulance chaser at it again. (Major eye roll)
Sounds kinda delusional, but nothing compared to Trump who said to inject yourself with disinfectant. But its okay now….he said it was only sarcasm. (Phew that was a close one)
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