Eight San Diego County gyms have filed a lawsuit against various state and local leaders challenging public health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Diego federal court says the stay-at-home orders have caused "widespread and catastrophic damage to the California economy" and that the gym owners have had "difficulty in satisfying their financial obligations, having been forced to lay off a significant number of employees.''
Plaintiffs include the Metroflex Gym in Oceanside, owned by Oceanside mayoral candidate Louis Uridel, who was arrested earlier this year for keeping his gym open in defiance of the county's coronavirus restrictions, and the Ramona Fitness Center, owned by Peter San Nicolas, the first local business owner criminally charged with violating the state's shutdown orders by keeping the gym's doors open.
Other gyms involved in the suit include Boulevard Fitness in University Heights, Deadweight Strength in Grantville, Convoy Strength in Kearny Mesa, IB Fitness in Imperial Beach, and Being Fit in both Clairemont and Mira Mesa.
“Theyre asking for damages that they’ve sustained truly for being told to shutdown here in San Diego County," attorney Melissa Fulgencio said.
The gym owners claim the health orders have forced them to spend thousands of dollars to restructure their businesses to be in compliance, and that their businesses have lost extensive revenue as a result of the closure orders.
“They have the capacity to be safe and sanitary. Even pre-covid they all had high standards," Fulgencio said. “They just want their stories to be heard, their legal theories to be heard and for there to be justice and a resolution.”
Local
Defendants named in the suit run the gamut of state and local leadership, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, all five San Diego County supervisors, the mayors of each city where the gyms are located and various local law enforcement and public health officials.
Among their claims, the owners allege the public health orders are unconstitutional for failing to provide the gyms with a procedure to challenge whether their businesses are nonessential, and that mandatory closures violate their rights under both the U.S. and California constitutions.
To view the lawsuit, click here.
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