Lansing, Mich. (WLNS) — Several Michigan residents and an Oakland County company have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for implementing the “Stay Home Stay Safe” Executive Order on grounds that the order violates their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

The Plaintiffs include Contender’s Tree and Lawn Specialists Inc., three other Oakland County residents and a Roscommon County resident.

The group of individuals alleges that the non-essential businesses ordered to shut down during the stay-at-home order is an infringement upon a right to be with friends and family as well as utilize privately owned property. The group says “these rights have been unjustifiably infringed by Governor Whitmer’s executive orders 2020-21 and 2020-42.”

The group is using the First Amendment, the right to assemble and the Fifth Amendment, that “private property shall not be taken for a public use without just compensation” as their grounds for the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are requesting 10 items of relief, including:

  • a. Issuing a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining Defendant from enforcing Executive Orders 2020-21 and 2020-42 as a violation of Plaintiffs’ fundamental rights under the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments;
  • b. A declaratory judgment that enforcing Executive Orders 2020-21 and 2020-42 as an unconstitutional violation of Plaintiffs substantive due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendment;
  • c. Compensatory damages to compensate Plaintiffs for the regulatory taking of their Physical Location and Tangible Property;
  • d. Compensatory damages to satisfy Plaintiffs in the amount owed for Defendants’ violations of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment;
  • e. Punitive damages;
  • f. A declaratory judgment that enforcing Executive Orders 2020-21 and 2020-42 as an unconstitutional taking without just compensation, under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment;
  • g. A declaratory judgment that issuance and enforcement of Executive Orders 2020-21 and 2020-42 as an unconstitutional violation of Plaintiffs substantive due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendment;
  • h. A permanent injunction to prohibit Defendants from enforcing the Executive Orders 2020- 21 and 2020-42

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan, Southern District.