Ordered to close, Brentwood's Crack'd Egg restaurant cracks back with lawsuit

A Brentwood restaurant ordered to close for failing to follow the governor’s orders to stop the spread of covid-19 sued Allegheny County and the health department on Wednesday, alleging civil rights violations.

The owners of the Crack’d Egg, which opened in 2015 on Brownsville Road, were the subject of an emergency motion in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court last week after the health department learned the restaurant was still operating despite an order that closed it on Aug. 11.

The health department said in its filing that the restaurant was not requiring masks on its employees or patrons and that it was not adhering to occupancy limits or social distancing among customers.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the restaurant’s owners claim that those orders from Gov. Tom Wolf and health Secretary Rachel Levine were illegal and unenforceable.

“The ‘orders’ which the ACHD has attempted to enforce have no valid basis in law,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit cites a decision from last week by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, which found that the governor’s orders were unconstitutional. Wolf has filed a notice of appeal in the case.

The Crack’d Egg owners contend in their lawsuit that in issuing the covid-19 orders, the governor failed to follow mandatory rule-making procedures in Pennsylvania and that the health department’s closure order relies only upon the governor’s unlawful orders.

In the complaint, the restaurant alleges “there is no rational or scientific basis for the order requiring universal face coverings” or for “directing ‘targeted mitigation measures.’”

The lawsuit includes claims that the owners have been deprived of due process; equal protection and free speech; and that the closure order deprives them of their right to make a living.

Allegheny County officials do not comment on pending litigation.