Judge Orders Arizona Gyms Must Be Given Opportunity To Reopen

PHOENIX — Arizona gyms must be provided with guidelines to safely reopen in one week, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday. The order came after Gov. Doug Ducey ordered gyms, bars, movie theaters and pools closed in July as the state's coronavirus cases spiked.

The original order was set to expire July 27 but Ducey extended it, aiming to reevaluate every two weeks based on Arizona's cases.

Mountainside Fitness led gyms across the state in a challenge to the conservative governor. Mountainside filed a lawsuit, arguing that the decision to close gyms was arbitrary In his ruling, Judge Timothy Thomason said Ducey's order violated due process.

"The court previously found that a short shutdown might not implicate a protected property interest," wrote Thomason. "At the same time, it is evident that the government forcing a business to shut down indefinitely, to the point where it might not be able to survive, implicates a property interest."

Gyms must be given metrics for safely reopening amid the ongoing pandemic and the opportunity to prove they meet them within one week of the order.

While he sided with the gyms, Thomason agreed with the governor that the decision did not violate gym owners' due process and said that Ducey was listening to advice from "top-notch medical people."

In a statement to Patch, the governor's spokesman Patrick Ptak said the governor is currently reviewing the order.

"We are reviewing the order," he said. "Our focus is on protecting public health, and working with the private sector on how and when to safely reopen."