IRA Continuing the Fight Against Restaurant Closures - Legal Action Filed In Kane County

On Friday, October 30, the IRA hosted a press conference with industry operators and workers to discuss the disastrous impact of Governor Pritzker’s mitigation plan and to announce the IRA's legal actions in the fight to save Illinois’ restaurant industry. Click here to watch a recording of the event.

On October 30, the IRA and the National Restaurant Law Center filed an amicus brief supporting the industry and Fox Fire Tavern, a restaurant that successfully challenged the Governor’s authority to issue a new order shut down restaurants. (Fox Fire Tavern LLC v. Gov. Jay Robert Pritzker - Ill. 2d. App. Dist.) The brief highlights the importance of the industry in Illinois and why it is absolutely critical to allow restaurants to continue safely serving guests indoors. A summary of the arguments:

1. The restaurant industry's top priority is to provide a healthy environment for guests and employees. The industry has done everything asked AND MORE, spending millions to adapt their businesses to keep diners and workers safe.

2. A blanket ban on indoor dining, esp. when restaurants are already struggling to survive, is the wrong approach. Without government aid, the impact will be severe, ultimately impacting 120,000 jobs – and quite possibly more – statewide.

3. Existing data and statistics, which are inconsistent and unreliable, do not support unfairly targeting restaurants and mandating that all restaurants again shut down.

4. The Legislature gave the Governor emergency powers “for a period not to exceed 30 days,” 20 ILCS 3305/7, but he has now exercised that authority for more than 225 days. The Legislature did not authorize the Governor to issue successive emergency orders based on the same disaster, or issue a new order if some facts changed. The Court cannot provide the Governor that authority now.

5. The Governor’s orders are invalid as to all similarly situated restaurants across the state, which should all benefit from a decision without having to take independent legal action.

Click here to read the summary. Click here to read the full amicus brief. 

You can further bolster our campaign to protect restaurants by joining the 10,000+ people that are urging the state to change its mitigation plan to allow for continued indoor service at restaurants.

Media Coverage

• Broadcast

  • The IRA received more than 170 mentions or larger features, reaching 25,964,636 listeners statewide.

  • Click here to read the broadcast report from the announcement.

• Traditional/Digital News

• The IRA was included in nearly 65 articles, reaching an estimated 109,907,968 readers.

• Click here to read the traditional/digital report.