The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in a pair of decisions that bar owners may pursue their lawsuits against the state over COVID-19-related shutdowns in 2020.
The similar rulings in the cases of Howell v. Cooper and North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association v. Stein were issued on Aug. 22.
In both cases, the state supreme court held that bar owners should be allowed to pursue their claims that the state policy ran afoul of the state-constitutional right to the “fruits of their own labor.” Both cases were sent back to lower courts for trial.
The North Carolina Supreme Court had agreed in June 2024 to consider the appeals after the Court of Appeals of North Carolina found in April that there was no evidence to support the decision of then-Gov. Roy Cooper to force some bars to shut down during the pandemic while allowing others to stay open….