Defiant owner s mask-free yoga leads San Mateo County to sue Pacifica studio
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An April 2019 capture by Google shows Pacifica Beach Yoga. The business was sued by San Mateo County in January 2021 for violating health orders.Google Street View 2019
San Mateo County filed a lawsuit against Pacifica Beach Yoga for violating public health orders, the toughest action the county has taken against businesses breaking safety rules in the pandemic.
The county alleged in the lawsuit that owner Tommy Antoon has flagrantly refused to abide by various health orders for months, and has offered indoor, “mask-free” yoga classes, sometimes up to three times a day. All indoor gyms, fitness centers and yoga studios must close in areas covered by the state’s current stay-at-home orders, imposed after COVID-19 cases threatened to swamp state hospitals.
According to the lawsuit requesting the injunction, Antoon refused repeated requests by county staff to voluntarily comply with public health orders. San Mateo County is suing a Pacifica yoga studio after it says the studio violated COVID-19 safety measures by holding indoor, maskless classes. The county has fined Pacific Beach Yoga $3,000 and a judge ordered it to temporarily close. This business has left us no choice, San Mateo County Counsel John Beiers said in a statement. Our community rightly expects that when its state government imposes shelter-in-place laws, those laws will be enforced justly and equitably to ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules. Pacifica Beach Yoga has repeatedly, knowingly and flagrantly decided not to follow the rules that other businesses in this county are following. That is dangerous and cannot be allowed to continue.