Monday, May 4, 2020

Barber Sues Governor & Queen

A Madison barber sued to block enforcement of Governor Tate Reeves' order closing salons and spas.  Mike Land opened his barber shop in violation of the order last week only to be greeted with a visit by the Madison police who ordered him to shut it down.  Mr. Land and his band of barbers sued the Governor and Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler in U.S. District Court Sunday. 

 The plaintiffs claim the order violates their constitutional rights.   They called the executive order "irrational, indefensible, and insulting."  The complaint argues:

Salons and barber shops are still closed.  Liquor stores are still open.  Golf courses are open and never appear to have been shuttered.  This order remains in effect until May 11.
It also cites other states such as Arkansas and Georgia that are allowing their salons to open under "reasonable rules and regulations."  Mississippi barbers could follow those rules as well and still operate.


The plaintiffs charge the defendants with a multitude of claims:

1. Violation of the Fifth Amendment (Freedom of movement)
2.  Violation of First Amendment (Freedom of Speech: Impact's freedom of creativity)
3.  Due process clause of 14th Amendment
4. Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment
5. Violation of Takings Clause of Fifth Amendment
6.  Violation of Article 3, Sections 13, 14, & 15 of Mississippi Constitution
7. Violation of Mississippi Code 33-15-11(c)(3).  Governor allegedly commandeered all non-essential businesses without an agreed market value of property.

The complaint asks the Court to rule the orders are unconstitutional and enjoin the defendants from enforcement of the orders.  The plaintiffs ask for damages related to Section 1983 claims, market value for commandeered business, and attorney's fees.

Attorney Stephen Stamboulieh represents the plaintiffs.





47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for this barbor,
It's easy to pass regulations when there is no interruption to your personal pay. (Political leaders) both Republican and Democrat alike... government doesn't produce anything but can only redistribute what others make... good for this barbor.

Anonymous said...

Somebody needed to do it....

Anonymous said...

This pandemic is new to all of us, so the response is new as well. I'm with the barber concerning the non-closure of some businesses and the closure of others. The problem is all businesses are not equal in the way the human element interacts within the businesses function and short of a complete shutdown, I think the government has done a good job considering the whole picture.

I will close by stating people are ready to go about their lives, whether, or not now is the time remains to be seen.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Using a broad stroke to determine if one business stays open or another is shut down is wrong. Here's my solution. There are 73,214 individually and corporate held businesses in the state. Have the governor appoint a committee of 3 to sit down and take a close, individual look at each of those 73,214 businesses and determine which should be open and which should be closed. That's fair for everyone, right???

Anonymous said...

yada yada - All one has to do is consider what manner of reasoning allows chiropractic clinics to continue operating, unaffected, while barbershops and salons were closed under mandate.

Anonymous said...

This would go to the US Supreme Court before he could even possibly win. I doubt the local attorney and the barber’s wallet are ready for that.

Good luck to them though.

Anonymous said...

Small business are suffering greatly!
I really hope the Federal Judge makes an example of the mayor & the city gets hit with a multi million dollar judgement. Than many the Uppity-Ups of Madison
half to pay higher taxes & this gets them fed up with the mayor & she gets elected out of office.

Anonymous said...

If Lowe’s, Home Depot, Callaways, and golf courses can be open then so can barber shops

Danger to Society said...

7:55, good idea on paper (like communism), but there is still a committee picking winners and losers. What's fair is to come up with an objective risk-based rule set and apply that rule set to every business regardless of what service they provide - the market will decide the winners by virtue of which businesses decide to make the required investments to comply with the guidelines.

My business was deemed non-essential and we closed for a few weeks. I paid everyone out of my pocket and took a poll of my employees and they all wanted to return to work, I hired a retired NP to monitor my staff's health - which has had some great unintended consequences because some of my folks don't take advantage of the annual physical the plan I purchase for my employees offers, and she was able to help a few folks with conditions they didn't even know they had. That said, we are operating at full capacity, shipping our product and I'm returning the government assistance I received.

My workforce is healthier and happier than I have ever seen, and if some government stooge wants to tell me I'm not providing a safe environment for my employees, I'll see him in court.

Anonymous said...

Thank the Lord we didn't have so many egotists in the country during WWII!

Do none of you understand the measures that were taken by our government then?

Already this virus has killed more Americans than the Viet Cong did during the decade of the Vietnam War.

Our government should be doing more not less, including stopping " gouging" and profiteering. There should be rationing and logistical control of critical supplies.

If our President hadn't been praising Xi as late as Jan.24th sending China our supplies and instead, been working with epidemiologists to prepare, we'd be open now...just like New Zealand and Australia.

But, no, he had to cater to the ignorant instead of LEAD.

Anonymous said...

For sure golf courses. Hell, you have to take classes on hygiene and get a licenses to cut hair.

Anonymous said...

"If Lowe’s, Home Depot, Callaway's, and golf courses can be open then so can barber shops". Was at Lowe's yesterday and it was packed. Everything needs to be opened. So some folks get infected. They will either have some flu like symptoms, die or be asymptomatic and will at least begin developing antibodies. This should never happen again.

Anonymous said...

Some people have to learn the hard way. If this barber wants to put himself, his employees, and his customers and their families at risk of death, let him take that liability. It’s obvious a lot of people around here will have to die before they start to appreciate the seriousness. The Darwin awards will have a lot in contention this year.

Anonymous said...

8:45 - Obviously you don't know sarcasm when you see it.

Anonymous said...

Some are fearful of the “chance” of getting a virus and an even smaller chance of dying from it, while others are facing the certainty of going broke / bankrupt and not being able to feed their families. Your risk does not equate to my certainty. Stay home until you go broke and then pontificate about your fear of risk.

Anonymous said...

8:26 AM I bet your a fun person to hang out with.

Micah Gober said...

Uppity-Ups of Madison? I'm a poor white boy from Madison trying to make ends meet. I don't live behind gates and I don't have a micro mcmansion. My job is a box pusher and a I'm retired school bus driver. I'm glad you think all the people who live in Madison are Uppity-Ups. I didn't inherit money and my parents are not rich. I have to work for the things I get. Shame on you for calling people of Madison Uppity-Ups. You are not a nice person.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Mayor Mary can explain why the barber shop is shut down but my neighbor in Madison is allowed to give swimming lessons at her home every afternoon. There are 4 kids at a time plus the instructor and her assistant. Looks like selective enforcement to me.

Anonymous said...

I'm on the barber's side. Good for Mike Land. Y'all can have this communism/socialism trial. I'm for freedom and liberty.

Anonymous said...

If only our government entities would have been effective at planning for a pandemic like this that is easily foreseeable (it's happened before) then we could have it vetted through public comment before needing to implement it. Something like "when expected deaths without mitigation as determined by the CDC exceed XXX,XXX amount the following restrictions will be put into place" and then list them. Everyone will know the trigger points and can express their opinions then.

This whole situation is a massive failure from the Feds on down. We have specific agencies tasked with doing the above, and there was even a Federal playbook that was completely ignored. It's typical though as our experience with natural disasters show. I guarantee right now if another Katrina came through we'd see the same scenario play out where citizens would be cut off from water, food, power, and gas with no implementable plan in place to get them relief. It'd be 2005 all over again.

Anonymous said...

This will fail, despite the plain meaning in The Constitution. Jurisprudence in the 20th Century developed the notion that the Constitution does not matter if a "compelling government interest" exists, as defined by any judge or politician. Similar cases have had no success over the last two months. Strict scrutiny is the virus.

Anonymous said...

"Already this virus has killed more Americans than the Viet Cong did during the decade of the Vietnam War." We lost men and women not just to the Viet Cong, but also the NVA, Russians and Chinese. Please take a deep breath before you return to your closet. See you, and people like you, next year after Punxsutawney Phil makes his debut. That is if the world still exists.

Anonymous said...

hold the phone. a bunch of JJ republicans cheering for a lawsuit? a few short weeks ago lawsuits were considered common vermin by this crowd.

Anonymous said...

8:47 - Some people have just had a hard on for government control, and see this as their big chance.

There's no need for rationing or government seizure of supply chains. Not a single health care system in the United States has been overwhelmed. Grocery stores and pharmacies are still basically full.

This virus mainly kills the elderly and the already-sick. Those folks need to do their patriotic duty, lock the doors and stay home for the long term.

Telling the young they have to commit economic suicide over a disease that barely affects them, while the old comfortably draw their social security checks and wave the flag about a war they didn't fight, is truly the most boomer thing ever.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if he applied for a PPP loan. Barbershops are eligible and it would get his employees paid, though maybe not him.

Anonymous said...

the only thing i want to see is mandiatory masks when in public. one needs to ensure you do everything NOT to spread it to someone else. it not your right to spread a virus that could kill someone

Anonymous said...

Every person should do what is the best for them and their family.
If that means closing down everything they have and staying home that is their choice. If a person thinks the best for them and their families is to go to work they should have a job to go to.
People still have the right of choice, or should still have it.
We are not given any choice now.
Nothing is stopping people from locking their front door and not letting anyone in or out. These people should not be making the choice for everyone else.

You can't cheat Charles Darwin said...

The stupidity of some posting here is absolutely staggering. I suspect if you had them in one group and yelled, hey Bubba, they would all respond. Prediction. The barber's suit will fail.

Bonus prediction. some of those spewing stupidity here will become infected by covid-19 and die.

Anonymous said...

@11:10 I don't think anyone spewing the stupidity here is going to die, generally they are going to be in the group that has a very low death rate.
However, I think they are the kind of people who don't care one bit about anyone but themselves and they will pass the disease onto someone in their family who is at risk and that other person will die.

Unfortunately a lot of people can't think beyond one level of contagion and don't have the empathy to think about how their actions may impact other innocent people.

Anonymous said...

This is my barbership, and I need a haircut. Go get em.

Anonymous said...

If you are sick or in a high-risk group - stay ya'ass at home, the rest of us need to work.

Anonymous said...

@10:41 You can choose to stay home rather than mandate I wear a mask. If a mask prevents the outflow of the virus from one's respiratory system, why will it not prevent the transmission the other direction? You can wear a mask. If you watch these folks wearing masks and gloves, they are actually counterproductive with the way people are using them.

Anonymous said...

Wear a mask to protect others instead of being an asshole. It's that simple. And businesses should have employees dealing with customers wear them. All these BS lines about the imaginary constitutional right to lift weights and infect others make me laugh.

fed up in Jackson said...

Thank you "Danger to Society" I don't know what you do, but I respect the hell out of, and appreciate your efforts. The idiots of this country don't realize that 99.9% of all independent business owners bend over backwards to take care of their workforce!

I hope some one will bring this lawsuit to the city of Jacksons Mayors doorstep (the dude that was put into office with just 25K votes). I fail to understand why a council strong city government has not put an end to his antics

Anonymous said...

@12:37 A quick search will turn up your answer, but here it is anyway. A mask (other than an N95 mask) doesn't stop all the particulates when a person talks, coughs, or sneezes, but it does cut down significantly on how far it goes. If it can keep the spray limited to an effective range of 2 feet rather than 6 feet or more then it has done a lot of good.

On the other hand, the recipient's mask is right up against their mouth and nose. A mask is not effective in stopping the spread of the virus over the space of less than an inch. The particulates that are ejected by a non-mask wearing person can then infect a much wider radius of potential victims even if the victim is wearing a mask.

The effectiveness of masks vary, but the effective spread of the virus from one person to another can be cut by anywhere from 30% to 80% if the sick person is wearing a mask at the time of the encounter.

Anonymous said...

The owner is not a good dude, at all. But I agree with his lawsuit and hope he wins. Enough is enough.

Anonymous said...

@11:52 a.m. — This was my barbershop. Not anymore.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Danger. Honest question here: What if one or more of your employees had not felt comfortable coming back to work at this time because they or a household member is in a high-risk group? Would those employees have a job to come back to if and when it was safe to do so?

Anonymous said...

all you JJ republicans who hate the legal system........please respond to 10:12

Danger to Society said...

@5:53, I gave them the option to either report to work as usual, work from home if possible, or wait it out if their work can't be done remotely. I told them it had to be unanimous and that I would support their choice either way; they all voted to return to work and we will continually re-assess following the advice of the NP I hired. I had the entire staff tested to set a baseline (and will do so weekly) and I offered off day/off hour shifts to reduce the number of folks on the manufacturing floor/engineering office.

There is a way to do this responsibly, it just takes a bit of thought and effort. I spent a little over $200,000 of my own money to keep folks paid and implement the changes; money well spent when you consider the livelihood of 42 families is at stake.

Anonymous said...

Hey 10:41 and 12:40, I'm neither infected, nor am I an asshole but I'm not wearing a mask. If you are sick, in a high-risk group or have an exacerbating condition stay home and let the rest of us go back to work.

Anonymous said...

@8:00 Unless you've been in isolation for the last 14 days you have no basis for insisting you are not infected. Fully half the infected people have no noticeable symptoms at all and of those that do they commonly don't start until a few days after they are contagious.

You could be infected and not know it, hence the need for everyone to wear a mask when they are in public. And that is exactly why you are an asshole for refusing to wear one when the benefits to society are proven.

Anonymous said...

This is a bit embarrassing, and I may not return to his shop when this is over. That goes for my kids, too. I mean dude, seriously?

Anonymous said...

Why didn't the barber hair cutters receive the $1200 Trump Check, and the $835 per week unemployment check from Tate?

(835 x 4 = $3340 -- or $19.31 per hour, tax free!)

Anonymous said...

9:25 - proven? Please show me the study. There is no data that show efficacy of wearing a mask and anything you've heard is anecdotal at best.

Anonymous said...

11:47pm "Why didn't hair cutters receive trump check and 835 per week unemployment"

As for the 1200 they might have. Rent is conservatively is around 1,000 for a 2 bedroom apt in this area so that gave them rent for one month and food for a week. What about the second month and the rest of the weeks? Even with extra 500 per child that money does not go as long as the salons have been closed down.

As for the unemployment, there are many people that have yet to receive any funds through this. There are glitches in the system and when they call for help the phone lines are so overwhelmed they can't even get put on hold. There are people who have been calling for four weeks trying to get it. One person I know who was finally able to talk to someone was told that they might not see the money until June or July because they were so backed up. So these people haven't had work since March and will probably not see any unemployment money until June.

Anonymous said...

Danger, I've been critical of some of your past comments, but I appreciate the way you've handled this. If all business owners would be this responsible and sensitive to all employees' needs, things would be so much better for everyone. I was wrong about you, and I apologize.



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