Attorney Matt Woods has filed a motion in Boone County Circuit Court that seeks to block Public Health and Human Services Director Stephanie Browning’s April 30 orders, which allow only a slow reopening of local businesses.
Woods is representing a group of business owners who argue that Browning’s orders are too restrictive and violate the state and U.S. constitutions. They had asked her to rescind the orders and to meet with them last week so they could describe the impacts on their businesses.
Because the orders have not been rescinded and no meeting was held, the motion for an injunction to block the order was necessary, Woods said.
“My hands are tied. What do I do?” Woods said. “They weren’t talking, so we had to sue them. There’s nothing else to do.”
Paul Prevo and his Tiger Tots Child Development Center are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The case was initially assigned to Circuit Judge Jeff Harris, but he recused himself. Presiding Circuit Judge Kevin Crane on Tuesday cited a conflict of interest and asked Circuit Judge Jodi Asel to reassign the case, according to Missouri Casenet.
The petition for injunction argues that, based on city codes, Browning can only order the quarantine or isolation of sick people, not restrict businesses or limit the activities of healthy residents. It also asserts that Browning cannot issue stricter orders than the state’s. The petition calls the constitutionality of the order into question as well, claiming it violates citizens’ First and 14th Amendment rights by restricting the ability to peacefully assemble and not allowing for due process or equal protection.
Only 24 of Missouri’s 114 counties have local orders related to COVID-19, the petition says. This includes only one of Boone County’s seven neighboring counties. Woods also noted that as of Monday, the incidence of the virus in the county is low, with only five active cases out of 180,463 people, or 0.000028% of the population.
Woods’ assertion is based on the county’s daily count, which is derived from the known cases confirmed by testing.
Woods argues that this brings into question whether the coronavirus poses a county emergency.
“Based on the small percentage of active cases of Covid-19 in Boone County, the current situation may very well not meet the definition of an emergency and this regulation only arguably authorizes Defendant Browning to order certain closures of quarantined and isolated sick people, not to impose significant restrictions on businesses allowed to operate in the state,” the petition reads.
Day cares such as Tiger Tots are specifically harmed by Browning’s order, the petition states. The order requires the same groups of 10 or fewer children remain together as much as possible. Of the 184 child care centers in the county, 74 have closed, according to previous Missourian reporting.
This makes the order “not only unfair to the arbitrarily selected business owners, their clients, and employees who are being irreparably harmed, but it is also unfair to all of the citizens of Boone County to impose unreasonable and unconstitutional restrictions that will continue to devastate the Boone County economy, both in the short term, but more importantly, in the long term,” the petition reads.
Woods is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the orders, a permanent injunction to stop the order completely and a declaratory judgment.
Woods, on behalf of the business owners, sent a letter to Browning, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, City Manager John Glascock and Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill last Tuesday, asking the officials for a meeting by the end of the week. The letter asked that Columbia and Boone County be allowed to operate under the statewide order issued by Gov. Mike Parson, which is more lenient than the local order.
A petition to fire Browning that began May 1 had 89 signatures Monday.
The city does not comment on pending litigation.
Treece, during a Monday interview on Janet Saidi’s KBIA radio show “The Check-In,” did not single out the business owners by name but said he is disappointed that some have chosen to ignore epidemiological data and make the issue political.
Boone County Southern District Commissioner Fred Parry also has been an outspoken critic of the orders.
For more COVID-19 related news, see our section dedicated to COVID-19 updates.