Take down those Florida Keys checkpoints because they’re bad for business, lawsuit says
If you ask Monroe County leaders, the two checkpoints that stop visitors from entering the Florida Keys have kept the COVID-19 infection rate relatively low.
Miami-Dade and Broward counties are hot spots for the novel coronavirus. Those two Keys checkpoints, installed March 27 at mile marker 112.5 on U.S. 1 and County Road 905, have set up a controlled border, keeping out people from the mainland who don’t live or work in Keys.
As of Friday morning, the number of cars turned away was 12,847, according to the county.
But those checkpoints have also kept tourists from driving to the end of the road and spending their cash, say a group of Key West business owners who question whether they’re legal.
A Key West family that owns five clothing shops on touristy Duval Street have filed a lawsuit in Monroe County Circuit Court accusing county leaders of enforcing a “blatantly unconstitutional” emergency order that is stopping them from earning a living.
“There is only one thing that the checkpoints affirmatively accomplish: they preclude healthy individuals from accessing their property, visiting family members, and supporting local businesses in The Florida Keys – a community that heavily relies on tourism traffic,” according to the suit filed by Jessica and Jonathan Haim, who own Shaddow and Fish and Tropically Hip clothing stores, as well as other shops.
The county hasn’t said when the checkpoints will end and the Keys will reopen to visitors. But on April 24 the county spokeswoman announced it wouldn’t happen in the month of May and said it could be “potentially longer given the state of the virus.”
Hotels remain closed, along with bars. But restaurants have begun to open on-site dining and on Monday, per the governor’s order released Friday, may fill their dining rooms up to 50 percent capacity.
The Haims have said that without the tourists, there is no real business for Duval Street.
“Jonathan and Jessica have suffered significant incalculable losses due to the unlawful checkpoints, which is prohibiting traffic to their business and adversely impacted their property rights,” reads the suit which was filed late Thursday night
They are joined in the lawsuit by Bettina Haim, Jonathan Haim’s mother, who the couple say is not allowed to visit them even as they are expecting their first child because she lives in Seminole County and has no “legitimate business” in Key West, as the county’s emergency order reads.
“Bettina is not sick, does not have any symptoms of COVID-19, does not reside in a hot spot county (like the ones referenced in the emergency directive) and is being singled out merely for not being a Monroe County resident,” the suit states.
The checkpoints violate the fourth, fifth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, states the suit filed late Thursday night in Monroe Circuit Court by attorneys Angelo Martin, of Miami, and Alan Fowler, of Key West.
The suit was originally filed in Marathon and assigned to Judge Mark Jones.
But by Friday afternoon, it had been reassigned to the Lower Keys division of the circuit court and to Judge Timothy Koenig, according to court records.
The lawsuit comes two days after about 80 protesters, including business owners and Ed Swift, a founder and president of Historic Tours of America, stood along North Roosevelt Boulevard at Palm Avenue and held signs demanding the checkpoints come down so, they said, people can get back to work.
Monroe County spokeswoman Kristen Livengood said the county attorney won’t comment on the lawsuit at this time.
“The county attorney has received the suit,” Livengood said. “He will respond in court.”
But County Mayor Heather Carruthers put out a statement Friday afternoon saying the county is acting within the law.
“We believe we are well within local government’s authority to take action in a global pandemic to declare a state of emergency, as the state of Florida and the federal government have,” Carruthers said.
“The checkpoint was initiated to protect the health of our citizens who live at the doorstep of a major metropolitan area that has been the epicenter of the virus in our state. We look forward to successfully defending our actions in court,” she said.
Carruthers is named in the lawsuit, along with Sheriff Rick Ramsay, the Board of County Commissioners, Monroe County, the sheriff’s department, and Shannon Weiner the county’s emergency management director.
But the county can’t back up the claim that the checkpoints are slowing the spread of COVID-19 with any data, said Fowler.
“Even if the roadblock was an effective measure - which is a debatable proposition - the checkpoints, nonetheless, unconstitutional and are devastating the local economy and workers,” Fowler said.
Asked why Bettina Haim doesn’t take a flight into the Key West airport - which is still accepting passengers who are screened and told to quarantine for 14 days - Fowler said her means of transportation isn’t the point of the lawsuit.
“The fact that someone with financial means can fly into Key West - including departing from Fort Lauderdale or Miami - illustrates the ineffectiveness of the county’s illegal law,” Fowler said. “The issue is that banning American citizens from entering Monroe County and using checkpoints to enforce that ban is unconstitutional.”
The Haims set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for the court filing fees and hiring an attorney, but on May 13, posted that they found two attorneys to take on the case pro bono. They’ve offered to return donations if there are excess funds.
The account on Friday had been disabled so it cannot take more donations and raised $2,953 for the legal action.
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
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