A state appeals court has overturned a lower court’s conclusion that Louisiana bar owners had no cause of action in their 2021 challenge to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ use of business shutdown orders during the pandemic.
Louisiana’s First District Court of Appeal concluded on Aug. 30 that the trial court erred in rejecting the bar owners’ lawsuit, which argued that they were singled out by a series of COVID-19 executive orders shuttering many bars for multiple months beginning in March 2020. The plaintiff bar owners also sought compensation from the state for what they alleged was a taking or confiscation of private property under the federal and state constitutions.
“In determining whether the bar owners’ property has been taken or damaged in the constitutional sense, a court must consider the economic impact of the Bar Closure Orders on the bar owners,” the appeals court said.
During a health emergency, all businesses and state residents might have to share the burden of losing some liberties for the greater good of stopping the spread of a contagious virus, the judges concluded.
“However, certain individuals or businesses may be called upon to suffer a greater loss for the public good and should, in some cases, be compensated for their greater loss in protecting the health and welfare of the citizens of this state,” the court’s opinion says.
The appeals court sent the matter back to the trial court and also assessed Edwards $1,708 in appeal costs.
“The appeals court found that the trial court was wrong as a matter of law in dismissing the claims because the governor was acting to protect public safety, as he claims,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Jimmy Faircloth, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “In other words, there is no public safety exception to the law of takings. Damages are owed if private property is taken, directly or inversely, for a public purpose.”
Edward’s use of executive authority during the coronavirus pandemic was extraordinary, according to Faircloth, and the appeals court decision was a first step to address the financial harm that was done to private businesses.
“We will now move forward in the trial court with a motion to certify a class action for all traditional, non-restaurant, bars,” he said.