Two Northern California restaurants sued by county for defying COVID health orders
El Dorado County has sued two Placerville-area restaurants for ignoring COVID-19 restrictions and continuing to operate after losing their health permits.
The county announced Friday that it’s suing the owners of Apple Bistro and Danette’s Brick Oven Pub, seeking a court order shutting them down until they obtain new permits from the county.
The lawsuit, filed in El Dorado County Superior Court, is the latest step in a battle that dates to the earliest months of the coronavirus pandemic. The county suspended both restaurants’ permits in the summer of 2020 for violating COVID-19 health restrictions, such as failing to require employees to wear masks.
Both restaurants stayed open in defiance of the county’s actions. The county started levying fines, which have surpassed $100,000 apiece. Separately, Apple Bistro was fined $108,000 by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA. The state agency said Apple Bistro, a popular spot just off Highway 50 east of downtown Placerville, was endangering employees’ health.
Although many COVID restrictions have been eased in El Dorado and other parts of the state, officials say they can’t allow restaurants to operate without a valid permit.
County officials issued each restaurant a cease-and-desist letter Oct. 21 but got no response.
“For more than a year, the county has tried to work cooperatively with these establishments to ensure the health and safety of their patrons and to ensure compliance with the health permit requirement,” said County Counsel David Livingston in a prepared statement. “For more than a year, the owners and managers of Apple Bistro and Danette’s Brick Oven have ignored our efforts and allowed ... patrons to assume that they have a valid health permit to operate.”
Apple Bistro has been particularly dismissive of government efforts to enforce COVID-19 regulations. When a Sacramento Bee reporter visited the restaurant in January, the building was festooned with posters disparaging the government.
“As free Americans we will not comply with unconstitutional medical or political mandates that violate our basic rights!” one sign read.
Owner Jennette Waldow posted a video on the restaurant’s website hammering Cal/OSHA for “illegally walking on our rights, trespassing on our rights.”
The restaurant hasn’t paid the Cal/OSHA fine, said agency spokesman Luke Brown. The agency has brought in a debt-collection agency to get the money, he said.
The fine is among the largest Cal/OSHA has issued to any establishment in California over COVID-19 violations.
Waldow couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. Neither could Thomas or Danette Inman, the owners of Danette’s.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 2:19 PM.