A Wake County judge has dealt a setback to eastern North Carolina bar owners—including local operators from New Bern and Jacksonville to Greenville—seeking compensation for pandemic-era shutdowns.
Superior Court Judge Edwin Wilson rejected a motion by the North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association to split their lawsuit into separate phases. Down East bar owners—like the team behind New Bern’s Beer Army Burger Company—wanted to lock in the state's liability for financial losses before spending months calculating individual payouts.
The decision comes as state lawyers revealed that a separate, parallel lawsuit—Howell versus Cooper—has been successfully mediated and resolved.
However, the main association lawsuit is moving forward. Attorneys for the eastern North Carolina venues are now pushing to depose former Governor Roy Cooper and former Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen regarding the closure orders.
