Firehouse BBQ Needs Our Help!

Let's get this appeal filed!!

If you will recall, we sent out a plea in March to help cover the remaining court costs from the ongoing legal battle between Firehouse BBQ and Governor Edwards. With your generosity, Danielle Bunch, the owner of Firehouse BBQ, was able to pay her remaining legal fees and had enough to cover the initial court filing costs of the appeal. As we shared previously, the judge dismissed her case stating Governor Edwards’ unconstitutional attempts to mask Danielle’s employees, force her to sign an affidavit not to tell the public that her employees were not masked, and leverage the Louisiana Department of Health to revoke her food permit are covered by qualified immunity.

This court case cannot stand! Not only does it release Edwards from any consequence of his actions but it leaves a terrible precedent.

This case is more than likely destined for the Louisiana Supreme Court so we knew we would have to eventually ask for your generosity again, but that time came sooner and with a more pressing deadline than anticipated. Here is an update from Danielle:

Appeal in Jeopardy!

Livingston Parish Clerk of Court came back with an Estimated Costs of Appeal as 4 times the amount my attorney estimated for this case. These costs are for the Livingston Clerk of Court to prepare the record for the Court of Appeal in the First Circuit. My attorney estimated about $1,000 for this fee initially, since there was not a lot of pages of deposition. However, the Clerk of Court is saying there is much more in the case that needs to be prepared for the appeal case. So, they normally mail notice to the attorney, but my attorney never received it, (and no, they don't used certified mail for these notices, I asked.) Now we're being told that if the Livingston Parish Clerk of Court does not receive $4,965.50 by Tuesday before 9am, then our case will be dismissed. The previous fundraising allowed us to pay off our previous legal fees bill from the first case and we also still have $2,700 left in our legal funds account towards what we thought was going to be a much lower bill.

Bottom line, we need $2,265.50 ($4,965.50 bill - $2,700 already in legal funds acct = $2,265.50) to be raised and I have to pay that to the Livingston Parish Clerk of Court by Tuesday morning EARLY or the appeal case will be dismissed by 9am!! Yes, this is an Estimated Cost of Appeal and they could come back for more, but this is what is necessary at this point to keep the case alive. Please pass the word!

If you wish to donate, you can donate directly at Firehouse BBQ in cash or there are two online options:

1. Givebutter.com (no Fees)

2. Go Fund Me (Fees)

Did you catch that?

We need to raise $2,265.50 by 9:00 am, Tuesday, May 30th.

I know we can do this!!

Let’s bless Danielle for her struggle with this legal battle that she is fighting for all of us and get that money raised well before Tuesday morning. There are approximately 8,000 subscribers to Braving Freedom, with about 5,000 of you reading our posts regularly.

Humor me: let’s see what happens if each of us gives $5 today to help bring this tyrant down!

Thank you, friends!!! I’ll keep you updated!!