{"id":1202598,"date":"2022-01-09T19:04:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T00:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1202598"},"modified":"2022-01-09T19:05:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T00:05:12","slug":"la-county-sues-local-cafe-for-bucking-covid-19-rules-owner-this-fight-is-about-defending-our-freedoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/la-county-sues-local-cafe-for-bucking-covid-19-rules-owner-this-fight-is-about-defending-our-freedoms\/","title":{"rendered":"LA County Sues Local Cafe For Bucking COVID-19 Rules. Owner: \u2018This Fight Is About Defending Our Freedoms\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fla-county-sues-local-cafe-for-bucking-covid-19-rules-owner-this-fight-is-about-defending-our-freedoms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1202598&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Los Angeles County filed suit last week against a local caf\u00e9 that has refused to abide by heavy-handed regulations and health codes despite amassing fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Novo Caf\u00e9 in Westlake Village has defied the Los Angeles County health department for months, keeping indoor and outdoor dining open while refusing to require that employees wear masks. Novo Caf\u00e9 owner Massimo Forti told The Daily Wire that he has no intention of submitting to the \u201cillegal mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles County health officials have issued Forti and his restaurant dozens of fines totaling nearly $100,000. Forti said that he refuses to pay a cent of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat they\u2019re doing is unconstitutional and illegal,\u201d Forti told The Daily Wire. \u201cThis fight is about defending our freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a lawsuit filed last week, the county accused Novo Caf\u00e9 of \u201cputting the health of their workers, customers, and the community at risk,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-01-07\/l-a-county-sues-another-restaurant-over-defying-covid-19-orders\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Novo Caf\u00e9 remained open to indoor and outdoor dining last winter in violation of county COVID-19 rules. The caf\u00e9 has also continued to operate for nearly a year after the county pulled its public health permit in February 2021 over its repeated violations.<\/p>\n<p>The community has rallied around Forti\u2019s caf\u00e9 and its stand against the county health officials. \u201cThe community loves us,\u201d he said, as customers continue to gather at Novo despite the county\u2019s attempts to shut the caf\u00e9 down. Forti has not fundraised to cover the fines or his legal fees, telling The Daily Wire that he intends to continue fighting and \u201cfigure things out\u201d as they come.<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles County has struggled to enforce its health orders on many local businesses. In August, a local news outlet conducted an unofficial audit of eateries in the area and found that in many restaurants, employees and patrons were going maskless in violation of the order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe I-Team documented employees and customers not wearing masks indoors at restaurants across LA County\u2013from the trendy Escuela Taqueria near The Grove to a string of eateries in the Pico-Robertson district, including the Beverly Hills Bagel Company and the Pico Caf\u00e9,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/news\/local\/some-la-restaurants-defy-life-saving-indoor-mask-order-and-health-department-lets-them-get-away-with-it\/2678983\/\">NBC4<\/a> reported at the time.<\/p>\n<p>In many instances \u2014 such as with the Beverly Hills Bagel Company, Pico Cafe, and Escuela Taqueria \u2014 the owners claimed to have not known that their employees were violating the health codes and promised stricter enforcement when approached by NBC4. Forti was one of the few who unapologetically challenged the health codes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe in freedom of choice. So the mask is just, in my opinion, a sign of submission,\u201d Forti said at the time, adding that he would continue to fight the COVID-19 health orders on \u201cprinciple and the fact that everything [the health department is] doing is unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his interview with The Daily Wire, Forti urged more people to stand up against the Public Health Department. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for patriots in all industries \u2014 business, legal, everything,\u201d Forti said.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles County filed suit last week against a local caf\u00e9 that has refused to abide by heavy-handed regulations and health codes despite amassing fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars. Novo Caf\u00e9 in Westlake Village has defied the Los Angeles County health department for months, keeping indoor and outdoor dining open while refusing to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1202598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1202598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1202598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1202598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1202598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}