NYC eateries plan lawsuit to force Cuomo, de Blasio to allow indoor dining
A coalition of 100 Staten Island and Brooklyn restaurants are planning a class-action lawsuit to force the city and state to reopen indoor dining in New York.
“It feels like the government is moving the goal posts,” said Thomas Casatelli, who owns four restaurants in the two boroughs including the self-described “taco joint” Ho’Brah in Bay Ridge and West Brighton.
“We were supposed to be open July 6, now we’re hearing from the mayor we can’t open until there’s a vaccine. Who knows when that will be,” Casatelli said Thursday at a Staten Island press conference with other restaurateurs, their lawyers and local elected officials.
“The business owners that are here today, they did what they were told to do. They did what they had to do to help flatten the curve,” said Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis at the event.
“We met the metrics, so why are we being discriminated against as a municipality?” she asked.
The city’s positive testing rate is under 1 percent and every other county in the state allows indoor dining at partial capacity.
Indoor dining was part of Phase Three of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus reopening plan. New York City entered that phase in early July, but the governor and the mayor have only allowed outdoor dining within the five boroughs.
De Blasio said during a City Hall press conference Thursday there’s no timetable to fully reopen local restaurants because “we have to see a lot more improvement in fighting this virus.” Earlier this week, de Blasio said indoor dining might not return until there’s a coronavirus vaccine.
“We are putting together a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the Staten Island and Bay Ridge restaurant owners against the mayor, against the governor on the basis of they’ve completely exceeded their authority and stepped on the Constitution of the United States,” Lou Gelormino, attorney for the eateries, said at the press conference.
His co-counsel, Mark Fonte, said the suit will be filed in Staten Island Supreme Court within the next two weeks.
“What put the restaurateurs over the edge was [the mayor’s] announcement the other day that there will be no indoor dining until there’s a vaccine. Enough is enough. These restaurant owners simply can’t afford to shut down for the winter season,” he said.
Andrew Rigie, head of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, is not a party to the suit, but also doesn’t oppose the legal action.
“We’re reviewing our options and we will review this lawsuit. We still hope to work cooperatively with Governor Cuomo to open restaurants up indoors, but as I said yesterday, many restaurant owners have had enough and now the court may have to decide this issue.
“It’s unfortunate it had to get to this point,” Rigie said.
His group surveyed city eateries and found that 83 percent couldn’t make their full rent in July.
A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment on potential litigation and referred to de Blasio’s recent remarks on the issue.
Reps for the governor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks