On February 4, 2020, California State Senator Scott Weiner, who represents San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County, introduced Senate Bill 314, the Bar and Restaurant Recovery Act (the “Act”), to modernize the bar and restaurant industry and provide more flexibility to facilitate the economic recovery of the industry from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Act’s goal is to help the bar and restaurant industry bounce back from the pandemic by reducing the red tape, lengthy turnaround times and permit redundancies of the industry in order to provide more economic ...

The American Rescue Plan Act (“the Act”) was passed by the Senate on March 6, 2021, and is now headed for ratification by the House of Representatives and signature by President Biden. The $1.9 trillion stimulus includes over $25 billion earmarked as direct aid to restaurants.

Restaurant Revitalization Fund

Section 6003 of the Act establishes a Restaurant Revitalization Fund, to be administered by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund includes $25 billion earmarked for restaurant Revitalization Grants. The Act ...

On March 1, 2021, the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District ruled in favor of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (the “Department”) officials who halted outdoor dining in November 2020 during a spike in COVID-19 cases.

After the Department announced a ban on all outdoor dining, the California Restaurant Association (“CRA”) filed a lawsuit. State Court Judge James Chalfant initially ruled in favor of the CRA on December 8, 2020, and held that the Department acted arbitrarily and failed to perform the required risk-benefit analysis before issuing the ...

Q: I am a defendant in a fraudulent transfer action brought by a state court receiver. Can I demand a jury trial? I don’t want the judge who appointed the receiver to try my case, because he is clearly biased!

A: Whether you are entitled to a jury on a fraudulent transfer claim (now called a “voidable transfer” under California law— Civil Code § 3439 et. seq.) depends upon the specific relief being sought. If the action just seeks the recovery of money, it is a purely legal action, and you would be entitled to a jury. If, however, the action ...

On February 23, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a legislative package of six bills providing relief to individuals and businesses experiencing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these measures are directly targeted towards the restaurant and hospitality industry.

Small Business Grant Relief

The new measures provide $2.1 billion in small business grants of up to $25,000. This is a significant increase over the $500 million that was initially approved for these grants in November 2020.

Grants are available only for businesses and nonprofits with gross ...

The CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers) was established to assist the estimated 7.5 million California employees without employer retirement savings plans. Mandatory compliance is phased-in over time and depends on the size of the employer. The current phase requires all California employers with 51 to 100 employees to register with CalSavers or certify that they are exempt by June 30, 2021. More specifically, employers without employer-sponsored retirement plans must register to begin offering the state-mandated employer retirement plan to their employees ...

On February 24, 2021, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14-1 to pass an ordinance mandating that employers provide $5/hour in additional premium hazard pay for on-site grocery and drug retail workers.

The ordinance is expected to go into effect the week of March 1, after it is signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has already expressed support. The pay increase will go into effect for 120 days and then expire.

The ordinance applies to grocery stores and drug retails stores with more than 300 employees nationwide and more than ten employees on-site in Los Angeles. Approximately 26,000 ...

On February 23, 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to institute a $5 per hour “Hero Pay” increase for frontline grocery workers and drug retailers in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The increase is effective immediately and will remain in effect for 120 days. The ordinance will increase pay for approximately 2,500 grocery workers in these unincorporated areas of the County.

The motion was co-sponsored by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Holly Mitchell. The motion states: “Frontline grocery and drug retail workers have been met with COVID-19 ...

The “notice-prejudice rule,” often applied in the context of occurrence-type policies, requires an insurer to prove that the insured’s late notice of a claim has substantially prejudiced its ability to investigate the insured’s claim. This principle has been applied in the context of both first-party policies. Pitzer College v. Indian Harbor Ins. Co., 8 Cal. 5^th 93 (2019), applying the notice-prejudice rule to a consent provision in a first-party policy) and third-party policies written on an “occurrence” basis. See, e.g., Campbell v. Allstate Ins. Co., 60 Cal. 2d ...

On February 18, 2021, Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock and Acting USDA Secretary Kevin Shea issued a joint COVID-19 update statement that current epidemiologic and scientific information available to the FDA and USDA indicates no transmission of COVID-19 through food or food packaging.

The press release states: “Our confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply remains steadfast. Consumers should be reassured that we continue to believe, based on our understanding of currently available reliable scientific information, and supported by overwhelming ...