Members of the Pike County hospitality community lost an appeal in State Appellate Court yesterday. 15 various restaurants throughout the county filed a writ of mandamus naming Governor J.B. Pritzker and acting director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Alicia Tate-Nadeau as defendants.
The petition alleged that, beginning in March 2020, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Governor issued a series of executive orders under the authority conferred upon him by the Illinois Emergency Management Act to prohibit operations of bars and dine-in restaurants. According to the suit, the restaurants alleged that the closing constituted a taking of their personal property interests in their businesses, which required the payment of just compensation. The suit directed that the Governor’s office to fix and pay a just compensation amount to the closed businesses.
In October 2020, the Governor’s counsel filed a motion to dismiss the suit which was granted in December 2020.
The court yesterday found the appeal was insufficient to state a claim upon which relief they were to be granted and that the restaurants had failed to establish an entitlement to any compensation in their arguments. In turn, they upheld the trial court’s decision to dismiss the case.
Read the full ruling here.