AUSTIN – All over the state, dozens of bar owners have filed suit against Gov. Greg Abbott because of a shutdown order issued late last month.
The plaintiffs contend Abbott is trampling on their rights and essentially picking winners and losers by forcing bar closures while allowing tattoo studios, barbershops and nail salons to stay open.
On July 16, Abbott filed a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by 6th Street Business Partners, arguing that the claims against him are misplaced because they go to enforcement.
“Plaintiffs bring this legal challenge arguing that their interest as bars or bar owners in serving customers in person overrides the State’s interest in preventing the spread of COVID-19,” the motion states. “They are gravely mistaken, and the stakes could not be higher.”
The motion states that more than 280,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Texas alone, killing over 3,400 Texans so far.
When the governor issued his shutdown order, the state was experiencing a resurgence of the virus.
The bar owners believe they have been wrongly singled out as the source of the surge.
“The Governor has not explained … why consumption of alcohol at a bar is more dangerous than consumption at a restaurant,” the suit states.
“In addition, it is not clear how closing the bars will have any material effect on reducing Texas’s virus positivity rate, and more importantly it is not clear how the Governor (or his data crunchers) will be able to verify that there is link between this rate and the bar shutdown without adequate contact tracing.”
The plaintiff bar owners are represented by attorneys Brent Webster and George Edwards III of Edwards Sutarwalla.
Abbott is represented by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Texas, case No. 1:20-cv-00706