Palm Beach bartender sues DeSantis over reopening measure that excludes South Florida
Restaurants and retailers across the state received the governor’s blessing to reopen Monday, as long as they operate at 25% capacity and keep tables six feet apart.
That is, restaurants and retailers outside of South Florida, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order, released last Wednesday.
DeSantis’ mandate does not apply to Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade counties, all of which the governor says “have seen the lion’s share of the epidemic.” The three counties make up 60% of the state’s more than 36,000 cases of COVID-19, the highly infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Debra Henry, a 40-year South Florida restaurant industry veteran, is suing DeSantis over the order, which she calls an unfair attempt to reopen some businesses in the state but not others.
The complaint, filed in federal district court the day the order was released, says the order violates Henry’s constitutional rights, as it “arbitrarily” allows some businesses to remain open. It says the order is “unconstitutional on its face” and will disparately affect some businesses but not others.
Henry’s attorney Cory Strolla said the decision is arbitrary because the county has a high mortality rate but not as high of an infection rate. The county cases make up 9% of cases statewide, while Broward and Miami-Dade make up more than half. However, Palm Beach has 14% of Florida’s COVID-19 deaths.
Strolla said the higher mortality rate exists because the county has a population that skews elderly.
“To pick an imaginary line based on a number of infections is arbitrary. People aren’t dying at a catastrophic rate,” he said. “Yes this is a pandemic, but it’s not the bubonic plague.”
Strolla said DeSantis was served with the order Monday afternoon.
Henry, 61, worked as a bartender at Pit Row Bar & Grille in Palm Springs and as a server at a Buffalo Wild Wings in West Palm Beach, but lost both jobs in mid-March as businesses shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Had [Henry] worked at a restaurant north of the Palm Beach County line, she would be back at work,” the complaint reads. “But because she works at a bar in Palm Beach County, she is not.”
At a press conference announcing the plan to reopen the state, DeSantis said the South Florida counties are “trending in a positive direction” and will soon be able to move toward the first steps of reopening. Under DeSantis’ order, bars that make most of their income from alcohol sales are to remain closed statewide.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 11:00 AM.