A Washington state restaurant that resumed indoor dining in violation of a 2020 state COVID-19 pandemic order must pay a fine of more than $900,000, an appeals court has ruled.
State officials fined the owners of Stuffy’s II Restaurant $936,000 in total—$18,000 for each day its dining room was open while the state’s emergency order banning indoor dining was in place.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee imposed the ban in late 2020 after there was a jump in cases and hospitalizations attributed to COVID-19.
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries levied the fine after Stuffy’s opened, based on the ban.
The owners, Bud and Glenda Duling, called the fine unconstitutionally excessive since minimal harm was done. They said they could not pay the amount.
The Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals declined to weigh in, saying it did not have the authority to deal with constitutional matters, and a superior court judge upheld the decision.
The couple, who operate Stuffy’s parent company Duling Enterprises, took their case to the appeals court, which on Aug. 12 ruled against them.
“Duling has not demonstrated that it is unable to pay the fine or that the fine is excessive,” Judge Rebecca Glasgow wrote for the unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the State of Washington judges that considered the case.
While fines can be excessive, the company did not provide evidence that it cannot pay the fines assessed against it, the panel stated. The firm provided tax returns showing it operated at a loss in 2020 and said it received a loan under the federal COVID-19 pandemic paycheck program, but that information alone is not sufficient, according to the panel.
“There is nothing in the record about what savings or assets Duling had,” Glasgow said. “Duling had ample opportunities to provide additional documentation and deposition testimony to support its contention that it was unable to pay the fine, and it did not do so.”
In a Facebook post on Dec. 5, 2020, the restaurant’s owners said they had made a tough and risky decision to resume indoor dining.
“It has come down to the point where we shut our doors after today and call it quits after 32 years of proudly serving the community, or we fight,” they wrote. “We have made the decision over closing that we are fighting. If we go down, at least our employees will be able to have a better chance at having a better holiday season! This is not just about us as the owners struggling; this is about our Stuffy’s family.”
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