Today while inside a Farmers Market in California, I asked a shopper to cover her mouth after coughing with no mask protection. The owner of the store came to me asking me to get out of the store and refused service because I was harassing his customers. After explaining that the customer was coughing too close to other people and I without mask protection, now that it is highly recommended amid Covid-19. I felt I had the right to demand such request to prevent cross-contact contamination. I believe the owner or manager of the store did not have enough evidence or reasons to refuse service and my rights were abused. Please advice how to proceed to establish legal rights.
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Farmer's Market is private property, which means that the owner gets to set the rule according to which you are allowed to enter and remain on their property. There is no fundamental right to be in a business, either under the US Constitution or California's. While you have a constitutional right to put a soapbox on the public sidewalk and denounce or extol whatever you like, there is no such right on another person's property. You also have a right to express racially and sexually abhorrent content on the street. Your right to express your viewpoint ends at the store's doors. The manager has a property right to withdraw the implicit permission to enter and remain that is implicit in running a publicly accessible store. Your constitutional right to say whatever you want has to do with government action,not private action. You have no right to compel individuals to listen to your viewpoint on private property. It is a business decision, well within the rights of the property owner, for him to find your conduct unacceptable and grounds for expulsion. You do have a recourse: shop somewhere that doesn't care what you say to their customers.
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