MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) – A Minnesota owner of a wedding venue and a bar and grill will get a chance to prove the state essentially took his property during the COVID-19 pandemic when it put gathering restrictions in place.
The Minnesota Supreme Court on May 18 ruled for Carvin Buzzell in his lawsuit against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials when it reversed the trial court’s dismissal of his case.
The trial court will now have to determine if the government’s lockdown orders were the same as taking physical parts of his businesses to use for itself.
“The government exercises exclusive physical control or exclusive possession of private property when only the government may exercise control or possession of the property and the owner is denied all control over or possession of the property,” the court ruled.
Thus, the trial court will now determine whether that was the case. Buzzell owns the Rum River Barn and Vineyard in Morrison County and the Timber Valley Bar Grille and Catering in Milaca.
Both were subject to lockdown orders and gathering restrictions, like a decree that wedding venues could only host 25% of their normal capacity as determined by a fire marshal.
Buzzell filed suit, seeking compensation for the government “commandeering and using” his restaurant to help control the spread of COVID-19. The trial court kicked the case, claiming none of the definitions of commandeering applied.
The state’s Court of Appeals affirmed, but the Supreme Court has found further discussion is needed. This time, it is under a new definition of commandeering that neither lower court considered.
“We remand this case to the district court to determine whether the allegations in the complaint could support the conclusion that, by issuing the emergency orders, the Governor exercised exclusive control over or obtained exclusive possession of Buzzell’s property such that the government could physically use it for emergency management purposes,” the decision says.