More businesses mount legal challenges to governor’s COVID-19 restrictions

NORTH CAROLINA — Challenges filed by gyms — including one in Iredell County — and other recreational businesses against Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 restrictions are piling up in the N.C. Business Court.

There appear to be at least six cases involving dozens of businesses closed under Cooper’s restrictions in the court. In late May, the governor’s office asked the court to designate such challenges as complex business cases assigned to a single judge.

That filing recognizes “numerous such cases may come before the Court raising the same or similar issues, creating both the need for consistency and judicial efficiency in hearing this and other cases like it.”

To date, all of the cases have been assigned to Senior Business Judge James Gale in Greensboro.

The Iredell case is in many ways typical of the cases involving exercise facilities.

Police charge gym owner for opening despite governor’s orders Police charge gym owner for opening despite governor’s orders

Jennifer Durst, owner of Jet Fitness 24/7 on Morrison Plantation Parkway in Mooresville, filed suit on behalf of herself and her business on May 28. It accuses Cooper of overstepping his authority in issuing executive orders requiring gyms and fitness centers such as hers closed, violating her rights under the North Carolina State Constitution.

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