A group of several dozen bar owners in Dallas, Frisco, Fort Worth and more have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott, who ordered bars closed on June 26.
“We believe the governor’s order is vague, it’s ambiguous, and it violates the rights of these bars as it relates to the Texas constitution,” says Dallas attorney Jason Friedman.
Update on July 22, 2020: On July 21, Judge Martin Hoffman of the 68th District Court in Dallas County ordered the deposition of Dallas hotel CEO and billionaire Robert Rowling and Houston restaurateur and billionaire Tilman Fertitta, two members of Abbott’s COVID-19 special advisory council. The two will be asked to testify and will relieve Abbott of speaking to the lawsuit. Judge Hoffman said on July 14 that he believes deposing Abbott is not appropriate and that he should focus on his governor’s role during the pandemic.
The co-owner of Dallas bars The Whippersnapper, High Fives and Tiny Victories joins with the owners of Bottled Blonde, STIRR, Vidorra, Clutch bar in the lawsuit. Their opinion is that restaurants and bars should be treated the same during the coronavirus pandemic — even as Texas has become a national hotspot with a spike in cases. If restaurants can remain open, as Abbott has allowed, bars should, too, says bar owner Brandon Hays and his cohort.
“I want to be very clear: We don’t want to be a public health problem,” Hays says. “That is not the goal of anyone in this group. We just don’t want to be treated unfairly or unconstitutionally.
“It just doesn’t seem fair to single us out and shut down bars, specifically,” he adds.
The lawsuit states: “The Bar Shutdown Order is arbitrary, capricious and lacks any rational relationship to any legitimate state interest.” It seeks a temporary restraining order against the governor that prohibits from taking any steps to enforce his executive order shutting bars down. The plaintiffs also claim financial injury and risk and seek damages in excess of $1 million.
Abbott’s ruling closed businesses that make 51% or more of its gross sales from alcohol. Hays operates a half-dozen businesses in the food and beverage space in Dallas, and three are shut down and three remain open. Friedman says Abbott’s mandate targets bars because restaurants can still sell alcohol — as long as they comply with the governor’s latest mandate to scale back occupancy to 50%.
“You and I can go to a restaurant, sit down, order no food and just order alcohol. But because they’re a restaurant, they can do it,” Hays says. “Why can’t the bars have the same limitations — and serve just drinks?”
The reason why is because health experts say Texans should stay home to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Abbott’s sweeping mandate attempts to keep people out of bars, though it puts businesses like Hays’ in jeopardy.
Another group of bar owners filed lawsuits recently in Austin, Houston and Galveston, saying that Abbott’s focus on bars is too specific. The governor has suggested that bars’ reopening in May was one of the reasons Texans saw an increase in new cases of COVID-19. Restaurants in North Texas have publicly announced temporary closures when restaurant workers get sick, and Dallas County reported all-time highs in COVID-19 cases for the fourth day in a row.
“Frankly, if you think about it, restaurants have silverware, glasses, plates,” Friedman says. “Think about all the touching that’s going on. ... At a bar, they pour you a drink right there [at the bar], wearing a mask, wearing gloves, and you’re at your table. The argument can be made, [bars have] less contact and less touching.”
He also points to Vice President Mike Pence’s recent visit to First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas, where a crowd of 2,000 people gathered and the choir removed its masks when singing.
“People can sit in a church but [Abbott is] telling me that’s safer than sitting in a bar with 20 people socially distanced at 6 feet apart?” Friedman says. “It makes no sense. To me, he’s clearly catering to a religious base and discriminating against bars.”
Friedman filed the lawsuit in Dallas County and will represent bar owners with businesses in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Travis and Harris counties.
A bar in Burleson took a different tactic by inviting its customers to a protest in the parking lot. Owner Tara Worley echoed Hays’ sentiments: “We are literally making zero income,” she said in an interview on Sunday. Her husband Rodney Worley held up a sign during the protest that said “Why only us? Bar lives matter.”
Other bar owners in Dallas aren’t fighting the shutdown but say the closures seem targeted.
“To just blame bars, and young people, is a little myopic,” said Markus Kypreos, owner of Blackland Distillery in Fort Worth, in an interview last week. “There are a lot of places people can go and spread the virus. Closing down bars is a solution, but I’m afraid it’s putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole.”
When asked whether Hays is worried about COVID-19 spreading in his bars, he said, “I’m worried about COVID-19 in any interactions I’m having in a public place. So that would encompass me being at my bars, that would encompass me being at the grocery store. ... It would include me going with my wife to the doctor to get a sonogram. It’s a yes to everywhere.” He set out sanitation stations at his bars and marked the floor to signal 6-foot distances.
A lawsuit could be time consuming, and the governor could change bar rules before the lawsuit is settled. Hays says it’s still the right thing to do.
“We’re not willing to sit by idly while this happens. We won’t be treated unfairly,” Hays says.
Story updated July 9 and July 22.
