Kitchen Law, PLLC

08/22/2025

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨
The NC Supreme Court sides with bar owners in lawsuit against Cooper over COVID shutdowns.

Story Forthcoming.

10/24/2024

Good article on our argument in Howell v Cooper.

The North Carolina Supreme Court heard two separate challenges Wednesday to Gov. Roy Cooper’s decision to keep private bars closed while other businesses reopened during the COVD-19 pandemic. In both cases, bar owners seek compensation from the state for the forced closings.

08/23/2024

A good win for Ace Speedway today.

North Carolina’s highest court says a racetrack shuttered for defying state gathering limits during the pandemic can sue the state’s top health regulator.

11/09/2023

The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of an Alamance County racetrack that was forced to shut down during the pandemic.

09/05/2023

A split state Court of Appeals panel has determined that bar owners can move forward with their lawsuit challenging Gov. Roy Cooper’s shutdown of their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

08/02/2022

A unanimous N.C. Court of Appeals panel has ruled that owners of an Alamance County racetrack shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic can move forward with a lawsuit against the state’s top health official.

07/29/2021

Governor Cooper has decided to let his mask mandates expire at 5 pm tomorrow. The current mask mandates for:

Child Care Facilities.

Children's Day or Overnight Camps.

Health Care Settings.

Transportation.

State and Local Correctional and Detention Facilities and Homeless Service Providers.

Public School Units.

which were included in Executive Order 215 & 220 will be no more. Cooper is still "encouraging" people to wear masks, but it will not be legally required. In regard to masks in schools, it will be up to the local boards of education to decide whether to require masks.

06/03/2021

A Henderson County commissioner is taking legal action against Gov. Roy Cooper, seeking to end his emergency COVID-19 executive orders. Caption: Henderson County commissioner sues Gov. Cooper to end COVID-19 orders. The lawsuit was filed May 28 by attorneys Chuck Kitchen, of Raleigh, and Lydia Boesc...

05/30/2021

For more information contact:
Lydia Boesch
Phone: (910) 528-4405
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LAWSUIT FILED SEEKING TO TERMINATE GOVERNOR COOPER’S EMERGENCY POWERS
HENDERSONVILLE – May 28, 2021 – Today, Chuck Kitchen, Kitchen Law, PLLC, and Lydia Boesch, on behalf of Freedom Matters NC, an unincorporated association in Moore County, NC, and Rebecca Kate Jackson McCall and Cortney Johnson McCall, residents of Henderson County, NC, filed an action against Governor Roy A. Cooper, III, in Henderson County, North Carolina. The primary cause of action in the plaintiffs’ lawsuit is that a state of emergency in relation to the COVID-19 no longer exists. If a state of emergency no longer exists, Governor Cooper’s authority to continue to issue Executive Orders is terminated. The suit also challenges the continuing mask requirements in public schools under both statutory and constitutional grounds.
The Complaint cites to ongoing Executive Orders, where the Governor has stated, among other things, the following:
• There have been declines in the percent of emergency department visits related to COVID-like illness.
• There have been declines in the daily diagnoses of COVID-19.
• There have been declines in the positive tests for COVID-19.
• There has been a decline in the number of COVID-19 associated hospitalizations.
• Henderson County does not have a county state of emergency declaration in place for COVID-19.
• According to the NCDHHS County Alert System, as of May 24, 2021, Henderson County had a low community spread of COVID-19.
Other facts stated in this lawsuit are:
• North Carolina’s population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was determined to be 10,488,084. As of May 24, 2021, 680 individuals were hospitalized in North Carolina with COVID-19. That is .007% of the total population.
• Cone Health in Greensboro opened a hospital only for COVID-19 patients on April 13,
2020. Over 4,700 patients were treated in the hospital. However, due to the decline in COVID-19, the hospital was closed on March 5, 2021.
• According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, as of March 4, 2021, the case rate of COVID-19 has decreased 15-fold in skilled nursing facilities and adult care homes since January 2021.
• According to the CDC, “[m]ost children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all.”
Plaintiffs state in their Complaint that no evidence supports the state of emergency that currently exists in North Carolina. Not even Governor Cooper’s own statements in the Executive Orders cited in the Complaint support the existing state of emergency.
Plaintiffs also take special note of the following statement in Executive Order No. 215, issued on May 14, 2021:
WHEREAS, if the state's COVID-19 case rate increases, if the state's vaccination rate slows, or if new evidence arises regarding the risks of COVID-19 and its variants, it may be necessary to reevaluate whether additional restrictions are necessary to reduce the risk of death and serious illness from COVID-19 [Emphasis added.]
Governor Cooper has exercised unilateral executive authority over North Carolina for more than 444 days. He has issued 69 Executive Orders concerning COVID-19. The above statement in Executive Order No. 215 suggests there is no end in sight. If, as plaintiffs claim, no credible evidence supports this ongoing state of emergency, the statement of emergency must end.

05/07/2021

A new lawsuit filed Friday, May 7, in Carteret County would end Gov. Roy Cooper’s ability to issue executive orders linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The suit contends that Cooper has lost his authority to issue COVID-related orders because no state of emergency exists today. Raleigh-based attorney...