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Arizona bars overturn 10pm curfew
Bar owners in Tucson, Arizona, have won a court battle to overturn a 10pm curfew after arguing the measures had a ‘dire’ effect on local venues and were not backed by science.
The owners of Tucson businesses including Cobra Arcade Bar, High Wire, The Maverick and Union Public House won a preliminary injunction, which immediately overturned Pima County’s mandatory 10pm curfew.
The ruling by Pima County Superior Court overturned the measures ‘because the court finds the resolution is not statutorily authorised and violates the governor’s executive order’. The court also recognised that the businesses had ‘demonstrated the possibility of harm’ and were therefore ‘entitled to relief’.
Grant Krueger, owner of The Maverick and Union Public House, said: “This isn’t about ownership; this is about people like the single mum that works for me as a cocktail waitress who suddenly had her income cut by 75%.
“It’s about the cooks and dish washers, the security guards and DJs, and what’s happened to all those careers overnight. All based on a curfew that doesn’t seem to be backed by science.”
The venues successfully argued that the mandatory 10pm curfew has ‘had a dire effect on these locally owned lounges, bars and restaurants’, which they said have already invested heavily in new staff training and safety regulations.
Furthermore, they argued there was no data to suggest that closing at 10pm prevented the spread of Covid-19 as businesses were already required to abide by safety measures imposed by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Lead attorney for the hospitality businesses, Thomas A Denker of Munger, Chadwick & Denker, said: “We are gratified on behalf of all citizens of Pima County that the court made a detailed and well-reasoned analysis of the law and the facts, and properly concluded that even in an emergency, the government must act reasonably and without exceeding its legitimate authority.
“No one is above the law. We also are pleased that our clients will be able to return to providing service to their customers safely both before and after 10pm, as the law allows.”