A Michigan law firm filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon on behalf of five small business clients regarding the limits of the state’s constitutional power.
The small businesses are demanding a trial by jury and “a declaratory and injunctive relief” from the state for violating their constitutional rights by keeping their businesses closed during the stay-at-home order, WJBK reported.
The law firm’s press release stated:
The lawsuit cites speculative modeling on the infectiousness and lethality of a new coronavirus, Governor Whitmer has issued executive orders that have shuttered civil society, placed 10 million people under house arrest and taken jobs away from nearly 1.2 million people, all without due process of law. The Governor has not disclosed the data or methodology used to create the modeling that purportedly justifies this extreme action.
WXYZ reported that the five businesses that are part of the lawsuit include the following:
- Signature Southeby’s International Realty, Inc., a full-service residential brokerage in Birmingham.
- Executive Property Maintenance, Inc. in Canton which provides commercial, municipal, and residential clients lawns, snow and ice maintenance; fertilization; property maintenance; planting; softscape; hardscape; design and build; irrigation; and water feature services.
- Intraco Corporation, Inc. in Troy is a diversified exporter of architectural and automotive glass, automotive chemicals, and other goods.
- Casite Intraco, LLC in Troy distributes engine oil, fuel additives, and other after-market products for automobiles.
- Bahash & Company, LLC doing business as Hillsdale Jewelers is a storefront retailer of jewelry and offers jewelry-repair services in Hillsdale.
The lawyers representing the companies announced the federal lawsuit against Whitmer and Gordon around the same time U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced a federal review of the constitutionality of the shutdown orders imposed by state and local officials.