Clallam County civil rights lawyer William Payne and his clients have settled their lawsuit to end the vaccination mandate for restaurant goers. Clallam County had imposed back in September, 2021, a requirement that anyone dining inside a restaurant was required to have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Clallam County has agreed to end the vaccine requirement by March 11, 2022, if certain health conditions are present.
Mr. Payne, a Sequim lawyer, was representing six restaurants, Kokopelli Grill / Coyote BBQ Pub in Port Angeles, the Blackberry Cafe in Joyce, and The Oasis Bar and Grill, Blondie’s Plate, Sunshine Cafe, and Jose’s Famous Salsa and Salsa House Restaurant all in Sequim.
The restaurant owners claimed the health orders, designed to protect people’s health from the pandemic virus, violated their economic liberty.
According to the Peninsula Daily News, the case rate and ICU occupancy rate were very high at the time of the settlement, due to the omicron variant. The ICU occupancy rate was 90-100% full and the case rate is over 1,600 per 100,000. The settlement requires the case rate to less than 200 per 100,000 and the ICU occupancy rate to be less than 90%. The County expected these target rates to be met by March 11, so health officials felt they were able to give the restaurant owners a target date for their planning purposes. The restaurant owners agreed to dismiss their lawsuit, and to pay their own attorney fees, although there was no disclosure about how much, if any, attorney fees had been incurred.