Children's Health Defense By
Families who sued a New York County and two public officials over a 2019 emergency order banning their unvaccinated children from public spaces during a measles outbreak late last week have reached a settlement, just days before going to trial.
Rockland County’s 2019 emergency order prohibited children without measles vaccinations, including those with religious exemptions, from attending school or visiting public places for months, following a measles outbreak in the region.
Michael Sussman, the attorney representing the families, told The Defender Rockland County will provide $750,000 to the plaintiffs, “to be distributed by us as we choose to do so.”
The case was sent to a jury trial in November 2022 after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, overturned a lower court’s finding that Rockland County public health authorities were justified in issuing the emergency order.
Sixteen families of children affected by the emergency order sued Rockland County, the county’s executive and its health commissioner in April 2019, alleging the order was “motivated by animus against religion.” The families said the order violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
The jury trial in the case was set to begin today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to Sussman, there was no indication Rockland County was ready to settle until late last week. He described the settlement as “a good result” for the plaintiffs.
“I thought the county acted responsibly in taking the case seriously because it involves serious rights,” Sussman said.
In an email, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president & CEO, told The Defender:
“The ‘measles epidemic’ that unfolded in 2018-19 in Brooklyn and Rockland County, New York, was the forerunner of the 2020 ‘COVID pandemic.’
“Intense media fear-mongering laid the groundwork for unlawful expulsion of unvaccinated children from schools — who had lawful religious exemptions — and lockdowns.
“After a long legal journey, Rockland County has de facto apologized — to the tune of $750,000 — to the families that the county treated wrongly. CHD is proud to have offered support to the families and lawyers in the case.”
CHD provided support to the plaintiffs and their legal counsel in this lawsuit.
Plaintiffs who spoke with The Defender said they are satisfied with the settlement.
“I am thrilled to be able to put five years of litigation and worry behind us,” said Maureen Satriano, who was a nurse at the Green Meadow Waldorf School, where her and other plaintiffs’ children attended.
“Many of us wonder how this might have played out differently if we had been in front of a jury,” Satriano said. “But ultimately, I am grateful to try to put some of this behind us.”
In some ways, the money is “irrelevant,” Satriano said. “No amount of money will ever undo that damage that was done to this entire community.”
Satriano said that as the school nurse, she did her best to support parents on both sides of the issue — “those whose children were affected by their friends and classmates not being allowed in school, and those for whom this was an assault on their religious beliefs.”
Paul Jaffe, lead plaintiff in the case, described the settlement as “kind of a relief.”
“We established a very strong legal precedent,” Jaffe said. “We were quite happy to just have the case finished … and I think we got a settlement that acknowledges, in a significant way, that the county really did transgress the law and that they have responsibility and exposure to liability in some ways.”
“I think it will allow most of us to get some measure of closure on the event,” he added…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (childrenshealthdefense.org)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
Be First to Comment