LOS ANGELES (KUSI) – Los Angeles County health officials acted “arbitrarily” and without a proper “risk-benefit” analysis when they banned outdoor dining as a coronavirus-control measure, a judge ruled Tuesday, but the decision won’t immediately restore in-person dining.
Following a hearing that lasted more than an hour, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant upheld an earlier tentative ruling, in which he found that the county “failed to perform the required risk-benefit analysis” before enacting the ban.
“By failing to weigh the benefits of an outdoor dining restriction against its costs, the county acted arbitrarily and its decision lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate end,” Chalfant wrote in his ruling, which stemmed from lawsuits filed by the California Restaurant Association and the owner of the downtown Engine Co. No. 28 restaurant, attorney Mark Geragos.