Gov. Lamont's Executive Orders Have Helped CT Beat Back COVID-19, but Some Businesses Want to Curtail His Powers

Susan Huntington and Christopher Klimmek were quoted in Hartford Business Journal article, "Gov. Lamont's executive orders have helped CT beat back COVID-19, but some businesses want to curtail his powers." The article discusses small nail salon owner Luis Ramirez (not represented by Day Pitney) suing Gov. Lamont over pandemic shutdowns. The suit alleges that Lamont's orders have violated state statue by delegating some of his pandemic decision-making to other entities, such as the Department of Economic and Community Development.

The article cites a Day Pitney April Whitepaper, which explains there are at least some constitutional doubts to Lamont's powers, including the delegation of certain decisions to various state agencies during the pandemic.

Klimmek further explains, "We have a lot of large clients that want to be good citizens and I think it is to their credit that they are figuring out ways to work things out," he said. "But there are plenty of litigious folks out there and the impact of these orders has been significant. We are really in uncharted legal territory. We've seen lots of plaintiffs challenge much less burdensome rules that have a much less legal foundation."

Huntington further adds, "[companies] are worried about not only getting pushback from the government, but also getting sued by customers and workers" and hence, are complying with executive orders whether or not they are determined to be constitutional.

Read the full article here.