BUFFALO, N.Y. — Salon are allowed to reopen after Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement early Friday afternoon.
However, 38 hair and beauty salons still plan to move forward with the lawsuit they filed Thursday to keep the governor from shutting them down ever again.
"The governor, I'm glad he reopened them under the orange zones, the salons. But he can, unless the courts tell him he can't, he can continue to create these executive orders and put them out of business tomorrow. So we're going full speed ahead so he's held accountable through a court of law," said Steven Cohen, an attorney at HoganWillig.
HoganWillig is the law firm who filed the suit on behalf of those business owners, including Ciara Murch. She owns Celestial Beauty by Ciara in West Seneca.
Though she's taken every precaution, she says being a business owner nowadays is like living in constant fear.
"We take every precaution. I go above and over what I'm supposed to do in fear of getting shut down, and Governor Cuomo shuts us down," Murch said.
Added Joanna Falletta, who owns Blush & Brow Spa and Salon in Williamsville: "We were shut down after we reopened, so who's to say it won't happen again? So we're definitely going through with the lawsuit, and you have to protect yourself."
The suit was filed against Cuomo, the NYS Senate and Assembly, the Erie County Health Department, and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Only Poloncarz got back to 2 On Your Side. He issued a statement:
“We understand the challenges facing the business community and are pleased that the Governor will now be allowing many of these enterprises to open under adjusted protocols. We are all in this together, and everyone is working for better community outcomes. We are taking this seriously and will continue working to protect public health and ensure the safety of county residents.”
Attorneys at HoganWillig say the new restrictions don't make sense though when Cuomo has admitted salons aren't COVID-19 spreaders.
"With respect to a lot of hair salons, he's put a lot of them out of business permanently and he's told the rest of them for now, you can operate at 25 percent capacity when there's no justification for even the capacity restriction," said Corey Hogan, co-owner of HoganWillig.
Again, this lawsuit is just fighting for establishments to stay open.
Cohen says HoganWillig will file a separate lawsuit in the future, seeking financial damages for those businesses.