Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant owners, who filed a lawsuit to prevent the Small Business Administration from prioritizing the distribution of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund’s money to women, ethnic minorities and veterans, received nearly $ 200,000 earlier this month from the fund.
According to the , the Small Business Administration paid $ 187,753 on June 1 to the owners of Lost Cajun, Janice Smith and Jason Smith, one week after the lawsuit was filed on May 23. According to the petition filed in the U.S. District Court, this is the exact amount the Small Business Administration disclosed to the Smiths that they should reckon with once their motion for exoneration is proven.
In the lawsuit, the Smiths allege that the Small Business Administration’s plan to prioritize restaurant revitalization fund applications from companies owned by “socially disadvantaged groups” is unconstitutional because it discriminates against white people. The lawsuit was filed by America First Legal, an advocacy group founded by former Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows.
This is an interesting point considering that Smiths lawyers have suggested in court records that the Restaurant Revitalization Fund may run out of money before their clients get help. „Of the total of applications submitted, 57 percent came from women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs,” says the petition. „This raises the possibility that the entire $ 28.6 billion Congress allocated to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund will be used up before plaintiffs can even be considered for relief under the program.”
The Smiths co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, Pennsylvania sports bar owner Eric Nyman also received help from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, valued at $ 640,425.
A federal judge in Texas last week issued an injunction on the matter prohibiting the Small Business Administration from prioritizing aid to socially disadvantaged groups, meaning nearly 3,000 business owners across the country are pending processing their claims waiting. According to the Times, the provals for these 2,965 motions were „overturned” by order of the judge.
The timetable for these plants is unclear. The Small Business Administration has stated that it will not process these requests until it has processed „all previously submitted non-priority requests,” and only if the RRF is not exhausted first, „said the Times.
Among them is the counterfeit from Meri Dahlke, owner of the Ten Bells Tavern, who is still waiting for money from the Revitalization Fund restaurant. “Thank you guys”, Dahlke wrote in a tweet. „I really appreciate you holding up the money I need to keep my business afloat.”
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