Restaurant hit with restraining order for breaking COVID rules, officials say
A restaurant in Thurston County has become the second in Washington to be served with a restraining order for violating the state’s COVID-19 restrictions by opening for indoor dining, according to a spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industries.
The Farm Boy Drive In reopened for indoor dining on Dec. 2, according to a Facebook post from the restaurant. Gov. Jay Inslee prohibited restaurants from offering indoor dining in guidance that went into effect on Nov. 18, McClatchy News previously reported.
The guidance, which will remain in place until Jan. 4, prohibits people who don’t live together from having social gatherings indoors unless “they quarantine for 14 days prior to the social gathering or quarantine for seven days prior … and received a negative COVID-19 test result no more than 48-hours prior to the gathering,” according to the governor’s website.
Restaurants, however, can’t operate indoor dining services under those terms, the guidance says, and there are strict rules for them to follow if they offer outdoor dining.
Racking up fines
Farm Boy has already racked up $57,000 in fines from the Department of Labor and Industries for defying the governor’s order, Tim Church, a spokesman with the agency, told McClatchy in an email. The department also issued “an order and notice of immediate restraint to [the restaurant]” on Dec. 7, which “required the employer to immediately cease the business activity of indoor dine-in service,” according to Thurston County Superior Court documents.
After receiving that order on Dec. 8, Farm Boy continued to offer indoor dining, documents say. Ignoring the order has now resulted in a temporary restraining order this week, according to court documents.
“Violation of this order is a gross misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than [$10,000] or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both,” documents say. “Violation of this order may also subject the violator to Contempt of Court.”
A Thurston County Superior Court judge issued the order to the restaurant on Wednesday, Church told McClatchy. The court ordered the employer to appear (by phone) at a hearing on Dec. 22 in Thurston County, according to documents.
Farm Boy did not respond to a request for comment.
Brian Robbins, the restaurant’s owner, told McClatchy on Dec. 3 that opening indoor dining had “nothing to do with politics, it [had] everything to do with survival.”
“I’ve got 10 employees that rely on their paychecks. Just because Inslee says that they’re non-essential, that’s not right,” Robbins said. “Every single person’s paycheck is essential. … What makes him think that he can determine who is essential and who is not?”
More than 3,000 deaths in Washington
The Washington Department of Health reports that “food service/restaurant” businesses top the list for COVID-19 outbreaks outside of health care settings, with 199 outbreaks reported during the course of the pandemic and 11 reported between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5.
Farm Boy is the second Washington business to get a temporary restraining order for violating the governor’s order,Church said.
The first was Fairway Cafe in Lynden, “which stopped providing indoor dining after receiving the court order from a Whatcom County Superior Court judge,” Church said.
The state’s Emergency Operations Center received an average of 533 complaints about COVID-19 rule violations at businesses “when new restrictions were announced in mid-November,” according to Church.
Washington state has reported 217,205 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3,117 deaths as of Friday, according to the Department of Health.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Restaurant hit with restraining order for breaking COVID rules, officials say."