SAN JOSE - Restaurants across Santa Clara County may get their money back on the business permits, licenses and other various fees that they were required to pay to the government last year to legally be in business despite being closed most of the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A class action complaint was filed on April 9 in the Santa Clara County Superior Court by plaintiff Protégé Restaurant Partners LLC against Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The plaintiff owns the Protégé restaurant at 250 S. California Ave. in Palo Alto.
Santa Clara County restaurants were closed beginning in mid-March of last year. During the time that the restaurants were closed, the defendants allegedly wrongfully continued to charge public health permit and business licensing fees, alcohol beverage control fees and other charges, as well as late fees for those not paid on time.
The complaint says that, according to county ordinance, the fees should be proportional to the projected operating costs for the restaurant for the fiscal year, and that as a result the fees should not have been charged since restaurants did not operate.
The defendants are sued for violation of government code and the California Constitution, violation of mandatory duty and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiff is represented by Kabateck LLP.