47 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Covid-19"'.
J. Lasnik dismisses a lawsuit in which the former chief of inventory management for King County Metro Transit accuses the county of not accommodating her religious exemption to the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, placing her on administrative leave and then firing her. The former chief did not give the county timely notice of a religious conflict, because she makes no attempt to explain how a Covid-19 vaccine injection qualifies as a defilement of God's temple while vaccine injections for other illnesses do not, and she acknowledges that neither injections nor vaccines are forbidden in her belief system.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Lasnik, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv823, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Employment, covid-19
J. Copenhaver grants the Board of Education's motion to dismiss the elementary school counselor’s suit claiming the Board violated her right to freedom of speech and the West Virginia Whistleblower Act. The counselor alleged the Board and school officials took retaliatory action against her by, among other things, formally reprimanding her and removing her as the coordinator of the standardized test after she expressed concerns to school officials as well as gave an interview to a Charleston television station about the resumption of a national standardized test to occur on school premises in April 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The court finds since her pleading is grounded in her capacity as a public employee and not a private citizen, she has failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted, and the Board's interest in effectively and efficiently administering the standardized test outweigh the counselor's public airing of her concerns.
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Copenhaver, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv314, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Education, covid-19
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J. Clarke finds in favor of the church for its complaint alleging that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it forced the church to significantly reduce social services, including meal service, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The city's ordinance violates RLUIPA because it is a land use regulation that inhibits the church's ability to feed the ministry, which is part of the church's religion. The ordinance is not the least restrictive way for the city to exercise its interest.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Clarke, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv156, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, covid-19
J. Donnelly tosses an employment discrimination complaint against Stony Brook University Medical Center on claims that it denied a nurse’s request for a religious exemption from its Covid-19 mandate and subsequently placed her on unpaid leave until she resigned. Her complaint fails to allege her employer’s actions were motivated by her religion. York’s health department removed religious exemptions from its vaccine mandate, and as such the healthcare provider would have been in violation of the mandate had they granted her request for an exemption for religious purposes.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Donnelly, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv135, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19, Employment Discrimination
J. Melloy finds a lower court properly dismissed a civilian's civil rights claims against the government. The civilian argued that police officers wrongfully removed him from a motel room without establishing eviction measures, even though his stay at the establishment was part of a program for elderly and vulnerable adults during Covid-19. However, government attorney's sufficiently showed in court that the police officers are entitled to qualified immunity for removing him from the premises based on his status as a hotel guest and not a protected tenant. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Melloy, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 23-1835, Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, covid-19
J. Rice dismisses without leave to amend the healthcare workers' complaint that Gov. Inslee violated the healthcare workers' civil rights by requiring them to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, resulting in their termination when they refused. Inslee is entitled to qualified immunity on these claims because the healthcare workers cannot claim that Inslee and others unlawfully "subjected" them to any investigational medical product or procedure as the healthcare workers undisputedly rejected the FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Washington, Judge: Rice, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv295, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Employment, covid-19
J. Schopler dismisses a group of community college employees' claims that the college's now-repealed Covid-19 vaccine mandates violated their civil rights. The college's vaccine requirement was rescinded due to the pandemic's changing landscape, not due to litigation, so the employees' claims for declaratory and injunctive relief are dismissed. Also, most of the employees did not receive a "right to sue letter" for their Title VII claims and the employee who did receive such a letter failed to state what religious beliefs he held that were violated by the vaccine mandate.
Court: USDC Southern District of California, Judge: Schopler, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv1220, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19
J. Guaderrama dismisses an ADA lawsuit brought by a citizen against a food bank over its requirement that he wear a mask at the food bank because that requirement is no longer in place and therefore, as the citizen concedes, his claim his moot.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Guaderrama, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv55, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Ada / Rehabilitation Act, covid-19
J. Loken finds a lower court properly denied a citizen of India's motion for religious and political asylum. The citizen of India argued that he would face persecution in his native land at the hands of a ruling party. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that he consistently requested further continuances based on the Covid-19 pandemic shut down, and failed to present new evidence to support his claims. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Loken, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 23-2289, Categories: civil Rights, Government, covid-19
J. Kindred grants Alaska Airline's motion to dismiss a dispute with a former state senator regarding her nearly year-long ban from flying with Alaska Airlines for failing to comply with mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic and "combative interactions with Alaska Airlines staff." Her ban was lifted after the mask mandate ended. The former senator has not shown that the Specially Appearing Defendants have minimum contacts with Alaska to support jurisdiction. The former senator's claims against Alaska Airlines for “'violations of the duty of care concerning treatment of airline passengers with disabilities' fails because no such duty exists under state law."
Court: USDC Alaska, Judge: Kindred, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv87, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19
J. Fletcher finds that the district court properly dismissed an individual's claims of unlawful search and arrest as barred by the applicable statute of limitations. State-law claims were not tolled by a Covid-19 pandemic emergency tolling order and the limitations periods for those claims passed before either the order or rule went into effect. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Fletcher, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 22-55806, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19
J. Bryan grants Washington Gov. Jay Robert Inslee’s motion to dismiss the healthcare workers' complaint that they were mandated to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Inslee had a rational basis for the proclamation because the Covid-19 vaccine mandate lessened the possibility that the healthcare workers would become infected with the virus and pass it on to their patients. The healthcare workers do not sufficiently plead that they were denied some government benefit because the mandate was in effect.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Bryan, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv5741, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Health Care, covid-19
J. Geraci dismisses claims contending police officers used "intimidating tactics" to serve a quarantine order against a broadcaster and her child during the Covid-19 pandemic because the amended complaint does not plausibly allege the existence of a municipal policy that would have led to misconduct, and evidence does not indicate the broadcaster's speech had been chilled due to the officers' conduct. Meanwhile, nothing indicates defendants conspired to interfere with her civil rights.
Court: USDC Western District of New York, Judge: Geraci , Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: 6:23cv6201, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, covid-19
J. Aiken dismisses the employee's complaint that the school district violated his 14th Amendment rights by putting him on unpaid leave when he refused to comply with Oregon Health Authority's Covid-19 vaccine and mask requirements for all school employees. There is already precedent for courts that upheld Covid-19 vaccination requirements in public education. The employee's decision to not take the vaccine does not qualify as "forced experimentation" as his complaint suggests, and there are no stated facts that could make any amendment valid or sufficient.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Aiken, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: 6:23cv169, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Education, covid-19
J. Ryu dismisses all civil rights claims against Alameda from the owner of a private marina that says the city passed a series of unlawful ordinances related to its business, namely in the form of rent and eviction limitations on houseboats due to Covid-19. The city's move to put limitations on evictions stemming from the pandemic was, as several other courts have found for different cities and states, based on the needs of the community and not an infringement on the marina owner's landlord rights. The owner's claim that the ordinances "economically hobbled" it is unsupported and unconvincing.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Ryu, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv6509, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Landlord Tenant, covid-19
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court improperly enjoined the state from enforcing and readopting regulations related to quarantine procedures during the Covid-19 pandemic after three state lawmakers claimed the regulations violated the separation of powers doctrine. The alleged injuries were institutional, and the lawmakers had not been personally subjected to isolation or quarantine.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: CA 22-01133, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19
J. Mazzant denies partial summary judgment to the professor in his suit stemming from the nonrenewal of his contract that he alleges was done in retaliation "for speaking as a private citizen on matters of public concern." The professor co-wrote an article in which he called for removal of Confederate monuments in the city of Dallas and also posted on social media about the college's Covid-19 policies. The professor did not show the college's Code of Professional Ethics and Employee Expression Policy were unconstitutionally vague.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Texas , Judge: Mazzant, Filed On: November 4, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv184, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Employment, covid-19
J. Block dismisses another legal challenge to the New York State Unified Court System’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate brought by a group of court officers and assistants who claim the state court system exceeded its authority in issuing the mandate and further denied their requests for religious exemptions on arbitrary grounds. The court rules the state judicial branch’s administrative arm has the authority to implement public health measures to ensure citizens’ access to the courts, the classifications they created regarding employees’ vaccination status passes rational review and the vaccine mandate did not shock the conscience.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Block, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4002, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19
Per curiam, the appellate division dismisses this challenge to the state rule requiring personnel from hospitals and other covered entities to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 where medical exemptions do not apply because the regulation has been repealed, and the issue is not likely to recur given the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 6, 2023, Case #: CA 23-00161, Categories: Civil Procedure, civil Rights, covid-19
J. Friedland finds that the district court properly denied qualified immunity to California prison officials associated with a San Quentin State Prison transfer that led to prisoner deaths from Covid-19. The state transferred 122 inmates from the California Institution for Men to San Quentin Prison, where there were no known cases of the virus. The resulting outbreak killed one prison guard and over twenty-five inmates, including an individual's husband. The prison officials are not entitled to qualified immunity on the wife's Eighth Amendment claim, which adequately alleged that prison officials acted with deliberate indifference to the health and safety of San Quentin inmates. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Friedland , Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: 22-15481, Categories: civil Rights, covid-19, Prisoners' Rights