LEWIS COUNTY, Wash. — A Lewis County restaurant owner who has been fined more than $400,000 for keeping his dining room open despite the current restrictions does not plan on having to pay a cent to the state.
"Because it's not constitutional," said Spiffy's owner Rod Samuelson, who opened his restaurant to indoor service in December, directly violating Gov. Jay Inslee's pandemic restrictions on dining.
Samuelson agreed to shut his dining room down after a Thurston County judge ordered the restaurant closed earlier this month.
Samuelson said he plans on appealing the fine on the grounds the state should not have been allowed to prohibit indoor dining.
A spokesperson for the state's Department of Labor and Industries said the state plans on collecting the fines.
