The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Indiana (United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, applying Indiana law) · Indiana
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- Ind. Code 16-20-1-24 (the 'Epidemic Statute'); Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County Code section 7-505; Ind. Code 36-1-3-8 (Home Rule Act); Ind. Const. art. 1, sections 21 and 23, art. 3, section 1, art. 4, section 1
- Issued
- 2020-12-22 Dec. 22, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-12-22
- End
- Judicial decision; the orders it upheld are Exs. MET-IND-020 et seq. (read as 2020-12-31)
- In force
- Dec. 22, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020
- Quarters
- 2020 Q4
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureCapacity limitGathering capCurfew and hoursAlcohol and bars
- Addressees
- specified businesses (bars, nightclubs, restaurants and retail food establishments in Marion County); by its reasoning, every business subject to a local health officer's epidemic order
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Indiana DUT-IN
Operative words
The Epidemic Statute empowers the health officer to "forbid public gatherings" when the health officer finds doing so "necessary to prevent and stop epidemics"... The General Assembly has authorized local health officers to make the factual determination of when forbidding gatherings is necessary to prevent an epidemic.
Penalty
Not applicable (judicial decision); the underlying orders were enforceable under Ind. Code 16-20-1-25 and -26 (Ex. DUT-IN-003)
What it required
The court held that Ind. Code 16-20-1-24 and section 7-505 of the Health and Hospital Code authorized the Marion County Public Health Department to close bars and nightclubs (PHO 22-2020, effective July 24, 2020), to require that 'All restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and retail food establishments must be closed and cleared of all customers between the hours of 12:00 AM and 5:00 AM nightly' (PHO 38-2020, quoted at 35), and to prohibit bar seating, live entertainment and dancing; it found no likelihood of success on the plaintiffs' state constitutional, separation-of-powers and Home Rule claims and refused the injunction. Character as recorded: adjudication (orders upheld).
Retrieval noteSlip op. at 32: 'The MCPHD Defendants acted within the authority granted to them by the Epidemic Statute and section 7-505.' At 31: the manner of forbidding public gatherings 'obtains "precision from the knowledge and experience" of the health officer "whose duty it is to administer the statutes"' (quoting City of Carmel, 883 N.E.2d at 788-89). At 42-43: 'Plaintiffs have not presented a legal basis for the issuance of a preliminary injunction enjoining the restrictions placed upon them by Order 38-2020.' The court later granted the defendants judgment on the pleadings (2021), as reported in the Indiana Lawyer and IBJ; that later order is not saved. The file is the court's own PDF as posted by Courthouse News (ECF header on every page).