California Has Paid Over $4 Million to Settle Pandemic Shutdown Lawsuits
An oddball assortment of churches, strip clubs, and tattoo parlors have squeezed $4.4 million out of the state to settle their lawsuits related to COVID closures, and the state spent $9.5 million on attorneys to defend the shutdowns.
More than a hundred lawsuits have been filed against Gavin Newsom and the state of California over the various shutdowns and capacity limits instituted in the state of California since March 2020. Most of these lawsuits have been tossed out, or have been on the losing end, with courts upholding Newsom’s right to issue such emergency orders. (Among the losers? Elon Musk!)
But ten of these were successful, most notably the February Supreme Court strikedown of the ban on indoor church services. Churches were behind many of these lawsuits, and the Chronicle reports that the state spent $4.36 million to settle these lawsuits — and another $9.5 million on legal fees defending their position.
