SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. — A judge has ruled that some Kentucky restaurants no longer have to follow the COVID-19 restrictions. An injunction came down from the Scott County judge Friday, allowing five small businesses to skip the precautions Gov. Andy Beshear has ordered.

The businesses sued the governor early last month. At least one of the owners is celebrating this as a victory, as Beshear has already filed an appeal.

"Our industry has just been devastated in Kentucky," Ted Mitzlaff said Friday evening. "We lost about two-thirds of our revenue last year."

His brewpubs make up three of the five restaurants named in the lawsuit. One of them is 'Goodwood,' in the Butchertown area of Louisville. He and his staff served up brews Friday, with a celebratory attitude.

"Cheers!" he toasted after one pour. 

Mitzlaff listed the many ways he claims business has been tough for him over the course of the pandemic; for these reasons, he filed suit on March 8, challenging the governor's coronavirus restrictions on restaurants. 

"Restaurants being closed, all of our bars and restaurants that are clients of ours throughout the state also closed...then when they opened, it was at 25%, then 33%, then 50%, now 60%," he said.

"...with a curfew, with no bar seating. The curfew really makes no sense," he laughed. "It's not like COVID comes out after midnight."

But it's the principle of the matter that ultimately caused him to sue the governor. The lawsuit came after the legislature passed a law to limit Beshear's emergency executive powers; Beshear vetoed that, but then lawmakers voted to override it days before Mitzlaff's attorney filed suit.

"We felt like the governor had overstepped his bounds," he explained. 

Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Oliver Dunwood told Spectrum News 1, "the General Assembly gets to write the laws for the Commonwealth. And the governor, like everybody else, has to follow those laws."

Dunwood said Beshear already appealed the decision. 

In response to the ruling, Beshear's spokesperson Crystal Staley said: "The Governor has long said his focus during the pandemic is not on politics, but on defeating the coronavirus. The Governor has followed the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House Coronavirus Task Force and public health experts. Gov. Beshear knows these actions, which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously were constitutional and necessary to protect Kentuckians are not popular, but they are needed to save lives.”

Mitzlaff said he'll still follow the restrictions, at least through the appeal process. He hopes the "win" with the ruling Friday though, sends a signal of hope to other bars and restaurants.

"I get it, if you have pre-existing conditions, if you are of a certain age. I get it. Take additional precautions. But if you have had [coronavirus], or if you have had the vaccination or if, you know you're young...they're just not in the same risk category," Mitzlaff said. "There's no reason to punish everybody, and particularly our industry."