Restaurant Owner Sues Gavin Newsom Over California Shutdown | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette. The author of this post is James Samson.

    A California restaurant owner is suing California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom over an order that forced her to close down amidst the coronavirus pandemic after she shared a viral video of a television production with tables set up next to it right by her establishment.

    Angela Marsden, owner of the Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill in Sherman Oaks, filed a lawsuit on Sunday claiming that Newsom's orders have gone too far and have no basis in science. She also accused Newsom of improperly allowing an unelected State Public Health Officer to determine which businesses can stay open and which must close without legislative input.

    "Defendants, in a gross abuse of their power, have seized the Coronavirus pandemic to expand their authority by unprecedented lengths, depriving Plaintiff and all other similarly situated small business owners in California of fundamental rights protected by the U.S. and California Constitutions," her lawsuit stated, according to Fox News.

    Marsden's restaurant has not been permitted to seat customers ever since Newsom banned outdoor dining earlier this month. Marsden then appeared in a viral video in which she showed that right next to her restaurant, there was a television production crew with tents and outdoor tables that would typically be banned under Newsom's order.

    "In her video, Ms. Marsden displays the hypocrisy, lunacy and total disparity between her own socially distanced outdoor set-up at her establishment juxtaposed by a similarly situated set-up containing outdoor tents and chairs associated with the NBC Universal production set for the series 'Good Girls,' which was allowed to proceed as essential work," the lawsuit added.

    The lawsuit went on to argue that the reason for the exemptions and different standards "has nothing to do with science and data," and that it is based on Newsom and other officials "supporting their campaign donors at the expense of small businesses[.]"

    Marsden alleged that Newsom's order has left her unable to recoup tens of thousands of dollars in expenses she incurred by complying with previous orders so that she could continue service. She is claiming that the Democratic governor's latest order violates the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments' right to due process and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

    The goal of Marsden's lawsuit is to obtain injunctions barring the enforcement of the executive and regional orders.