NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A judge on Monday shut down a restaurant coalition's bid to expand indoor dining capacity in New York City, according to a report.
Osteria Bocelli, an Italian restaurant on Staten Island, and a group of other New York City eateries mounted a legal challenge to a state executive order limiting indoor dining in the five boroughs to 25 percent capacity, the New York Post reported.
The coalition hoped to see the capacity limit expanded to 50 percent, according to the outlet.
In a ruling handed down on Monday, however, Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Thomas Aliotta wrote that New York state was "within its rights to pass quarantine laws for the protection of the public's life and health within its limits to prevent suffering from a contagious disease," the outlet reported.
"The threat of the infection and resurgence of this deadly virus arises when patrons from different households and environments enter restaurants and then depart to move around the densely populated city, potentially coming into contact with 27,000 individuals within every square mile," Aliotta wrote.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs told the outlet he and his clients were working to determine what steps they would take next.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office didn't immediately respond to the outlet's request for comment.
