Franklin kickboxing studio that unsuccessfully sued governor is closing its doors
Franklin. “This has crushed me,” said Darlene Pallay, owner of CKO Kickboxing Franklin, which was shut down along with other nonessential businesses in March and never compensated in accordance with the Disaster Control Act.
| 27 Oct 2020 | 03:29
Darlene Pallay (Photo provided)
After unsuccessfully suing Gov. Phil Murphy in September for violations of the Disaster Control Act, the business owner who filed the suit says she must close her business at the end of October.
“This has crushed me,” said Darlene Pallay who owns JWC Fitness LLC., a business in Franklin Borough that does business as CKO Kickboxing Franklin. “I can’t even make a dent in my rent.”
Pallay said that, with the restrictions the Murphy Administration has placed on businesses in the fitness industry, she is unable to offer unlimited classes to her clients, in accordance with the the CKO franchise business model.
Pallay said because her classes are high-intensity, interval training sessions, when she holds classes indoors at the 25 percent maximum state occupancy levels, it requires 200 square feet between each student. This limits her class size to only 10 per class, with typically less than that on the average in attendance in each class.
“The Murphy Administration hasn’t moved the needle past 25 percent, and I don’t see him doing so anytime soon,” she said.
The lawsuit asked for a judgment against Murphy for his failure to comply with the compensation requirements of the Disaster Control Act, when he ordered what he deemed were non-essential businesses to close during the Covid shutdown. The act mandates that Murphy establish Emergency Compensation Boards in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties during the state of emergency. People or businesses are entitled to petition their respective county Compensation Board for reasonable compensation, in exchange for the governor taking, using or controlling their property, even temporarily, during the state of emergency.
On Sept. 30, Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz of the Superior Court, Law Division of New Jersey’s Morris/Sussex Vicinage ordered that the case be dismissed from the Law Division and said it could be refiled only as a new complaint within the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Earlier this month, attorneys for Gov. Phil Murphy asked a Morris County Law Division judge to deny the studio’s motion to reinstate its complaint against the governor.