A lawsuit moving through the state’s court system helps explain why.
The suit, dubbed
Waldron v. Cooper, pits the owner of a popular Greenville bar against the state’s governor. In her initial complaint, plaintiff Crystal Waldron focused on the discriminatory nature of Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Waldron’s Club 519 and other private bars remained shuttered for 11 months as Cooper permitted other types of bars to reopen across the state.
Within days of a court hearing on Waldron’s suit, Cooper issued a new order. It allowed private bars to reopen in a limited capacity. That change addressed one piece of Waldron’s complaint, but it also prompted her legal team to shift its focus.
Waldron v. Cooper suit show the case’s new emphasis. The case will focus exclusively now on challenging the governor’s authority to issue executive orders that shuttered some private bars completely for nearly a year.
Club 519 and owner Crystal Waldron filed suit against Cooper in December. At that time, the suit focused on Cooper’s executive orders that forced the Greenville bar to shut down last March. Multiple Cooper orders forced Club 519 and many other private bars to remain closed for almost a year, even as the governor allowed other types of bars across the state to reopen during the course of the coronavirus pandemic.