A popular Peruvian restaurant in the East Bay community has announced it will close on New Year's Eve, saying it has been done in by a lawsuit filed under the state's permissive anti-discrimination laws, accusing the restaurant of discrimination against patrons who don't identify as female by running a "ladies night" discount promotion.
On Dec. 18, the Lima restaurant in Concord announced on social media that its last night in business will be Dec. 31.
"Sadly we have to announce the permanent closure of Lima," wrote owner and chef John Marquez in a post on the restaurant's Facebook page. "Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to fully recover from the recent discrimination lawsuit related to our ladies' night discount plus the challenges we faced were compounded by the operating costs increases that have affected our industry."
The restaurant owners said they were "deeply grateful" to their "loyal customers," and hoped to see them "one last time before we close our doors" Dec. 31.
Marquez and his family opened the restaurant in 2016 "to share the flavors" of their Peruvian "heritage with central Contra Costa County," according to a report published by The Mercury News in 2020.
The restaurant has operated from its inception in a plaza at 2151 Salvio Street in downtown Concord.
According to the Mercury News article, the restaurant owners indicated they may close in March 2020, at the time citing staffing issues.
However, the restaurant endured, and managed to survive the mass closures ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and local officials in 2020 and 2021 in response to the Covid pandemic.
But in 2023, the restaurant was hit with a new challenge: a lawsuit accusing the restaurant of violating California's stringent anti-discrimination laws for running a so-called "ladies' night" promotion.
That promotion, which Lima had offered for years, provided women customers with half-price discounts on "well drinks and wine" from 5:30-8:30 p.m. one day each week.
However, the lawsuit asserted the promotion violated the equal rights of men and transgender individuals who don't identify as female. Under the state's Unruh Act anti-discrimination law, violators could be hit with penalties of $4,000 per alleged violation.
Faced with unanticipated legal bills in defending against the lawsuit, Lima and the Marquez family launched a GoFundMe in September 2023.
At the time, the restaurant owners announced the GoFundMe by saying: "This legal action is financially devastating to us and threatens the survivorship of the restaurant, the jobs of our employees and the well-being of their families as we are struggling to cover the costs of legal representation, court fees, and other related expenses while trying to avoid financial ruin."
According to the GoFundMe page, the Marquez family raised $4,353 of its $30,000 goal. In all, 73 donors contributed.
One donor, who gave $500, described the lawsuit as "obviously a small business 'shakedown' by disgusting opportunists."
According to published reports, the restaurant owners have settled the lawsuit. Terms of the settlement have not been made public.
However, the restaurant owners said the costs of the lawsuit have still brought about the financial ruin they feared and had predicted at the time the suit was lodged.
Such lawsuits have furthered criticism of California's courts and legal system. Reform advocates, including the American Tort Reform Association, have described California as a so-called "judicial hellhole," for allowing trial lawyers and their lawsuits to inflict deep harms on California's economy and reputation, making the state an increasingly hostile environment in which to do business.
A recent report from ATRA, for instance, pointed to data an analysis conducted by The Perryman Group, showing so-called lawsuit abuse identified by the legal reform advocates costs the state's economy more than $83 billion annually, saddling California residents with a so-called "tort tax" of $2,119 each.
The report asserts such lawsuit abuses cost California 787,490 jobs annually.
Despite such alleged economic problems, ATRA said California lawmakers are reluctant, at best, to adopt reforms needed to address the concerns.
"The list of issues with the state's civil justice system is endless," ATRA said of California's courts, in its most recent Judicial Hellholes report, published in December.
"Rather than address the abuses and improve the litigation climate, state leaders seem to embrace the Judicial Hellholes moniker," ATRA said.