January 28, 2022
Disabled Virginia Flyer Sues CDC & 4 Airlines
for $1.85 Million over Mask Discrimination
Man with Tourette Syndrome Seeks to Vacate
Federal Transportation Mask Mandate
Jan. 28, 2022
By LUCAS WALL
RICHMOND, Virginia – A Virginia man who’s been restricted from flying during the COVID-19 pandemic because he medically can’t wear a face mask filed suit here today demanding $1.85 million in damages from American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and STAT-MD, the medical vendor at the University of Pittsburgh that evaluates mask-exemption demands for many airlines. He’s also asking a federal judge to vacate the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which marks its first anniversary Feb. 1.
Kleanthis Andreadakis, 50, of Henrico County, Virginia, is medically unable to don a mask due to Tourette Syndrome. He’s filed 15 complaints against the four airlines with the Department of Transportation for breaking federal law that prohibits airlines from discriminating against disabled passengers. DOT ruled in November that JetBlue and Southwest have violated the Air Carrier Access Act, but refused to issue any fines.
His case is the 10th brought to federal courts by members of Americans Against Mask Mandates, a coalition of travelers with medical conditions fighting against the FTMM and airlines’ mask rules.
Like two prior cases against numerous air carriers, Andreadakis charges the companies and many of their employees with unlawfully conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of the disabled. He’s the first AAMM member to sue STAT-MD for its role in denying transportation to the disabled and the second to also challenge CDC’s International Traveler Testing Requirement.
“I’m standing up for the rights and freedoms of every American, not just the disabled,” he said. “This lawsuit is more than just about being forced to muzzle when I travel; it’s about the premise that big government thinks it is here to control every aspect of our lives. The last time I checked, I did not visit my airline for medical advice, I went to the doctor. When did it become acceptable for private businesses to dictate medical decisions?”
Andreadakis has a doctor’s note exempting him from mask requirements, but American, JetBlue, and Southwest have refused to honor it. He received a mask exemption from United for two November 2021 flights, but had to endure numerous procedures such as advance notice, medical evaluation, and COVID-19 testing he argues aren’t authorized by federal law.
“I have been restricted from flying by the Airline Defendants for more than 1½ years because of their enforcement of mask mandates,” Andreadakis wrote in his 157-page complaint. “The evidence is indisputable that the Airline Defendants since Summer 2020 have illegally discriminated against flyers with disabilities by refusing to grant any mask exemptions and/or requiring such an onerous exemption process that makes it nearly impossible for those of us medically unable to cover our face to obtain a waiver. The disabled are essentially banned from using the nation’s commercial aviation system unless we don a mask, creating a danger to our health.”
He asks the court to vacate both the FTMM and ITTR, for airlines’ mask policies to be enjoined, and for damages against the four airlines and STAT-MD totaling $1.85 million. He seeks additional compensation from all airline workers who participated in the conspiracy to deprive the disabled of their civil rights.
Andreadakis notes the Supreme Court earlier this month blocked the Biden Administration’s mandate that all employers with 100-plus workers require their staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or endure forced masking and testing in the workplace. He expressed optimism that U.S. District Judge David Novak, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, will reach a similar decision on the transportation mask mandate.
“It’s time for the courts to stop passing on this issue because it’s controversial,” he said. “We need to end this masking nonsense on planes. Even the CEOs of the airlines have stated it’s ineffective and unnecessary.”
The complaint charges CDC, HHS, the four airlines, and STAT-MD with 44 counts of violating the Constitution, federal law, and international treaties by imposing a requirement that all passengers and employees throughout the nation’s entire public-transportation system obstruct their oxygen intake.
“I recently traveled internationally and it was disgusting to watch parents forced to keep their young children into these face coverings under threat of one wrong move and the whole family gets booted from the flight,” said Andreadakis, a dual citizen of the United States and Greece. “How do you tell a two-year-old that he/she has to keep something that is completely unnatural on his/her face?”
Andreadakis had trouble getting into the federal courthouse in Richmond due to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s mask policy, which requires anyone entering the building to wear an N95 or KN95 respirator mask. He asked Judge Hannah Lauck for a medical exemption, which was denied. The U.S. Marshal’s Service forced Andreadakis to put on a KN95 mask it provided loosely over his mouth to file his documents with the clerk’s office.
KN95 masks are assembled in China. Unlike N95s, which are CDC certified, KN95s are not approved for use in healthcare settings. CDC has admitted that “about 60% of KN95 respirators NIOSH evaluated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 did not meet the requirements that they intended to meet.” The agency also noted respirators manufactured abroad are designed to standards that do not often meet U.S. quality requirements.
“It’s ironic how someone with a disability that medically exempts them from the wearing a mask goes to the very courthouse where he has to seek redress for violations of the law, only to be told that he has to wear a mask to be able to conduct business to protect his civil rights,” Andreadakis said. “The U.S. marshals staffing the security checkpoint all complained to me about how they hate the mandate, wearing a mask eight hours a day makes them sick, and the court (the place we go to have laws enforced) does not follow the law by conducting the required OSHA medical evaluations on anyone before mandating them to mask up.”
In his complaint, Andreadakis asserts CDC has no legal authority to require passengers wear masks because Congress has never enacted such a law, the agency failed to observe the notice-and-comment procedure required before ordering the FTMM, the mandate applies to intrastate travel and overrides 43 states’ no-mask policies in violation of the 10th Amendment, its assignment of FTMM enforcement and exemption powers to private companies such as airlines violates the Fifth Amendment, the FTMM interferes with the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to travel, and the mask policy doesn’t comply with a federal law that protects airline passengers from discrimination.
“Due to my Tourette Syndrome and other qualifying disabilities, it’s harmful for me to wear a mask or shield,” he wrote. “Covering my nose and mouth inhibits my natural ability to breath, causes ongoing pain and discomfort, interferes with my ability to communicate, exacerbates my medical conditions, and could result in serious long-term health related concerns including the potential for death.”
CDC, its parent agency (the Department of Health & Human Services), and the four airlines “ignored countless scientific and medical studies and articles showing that face masks are totally ineffective in reducing coronavirus spread but are harmful to human health in at least 68 ways,” according to the complaint. “Congress never intended for the Executive Branch to have the authority to promulgate this policy – and even if it did, it’s unconstitutional. CDC and HHS may not exercise their authority in a manner that is inconsistent with the administrative structure that Congress enacted.”
He’s part of a group of 14 flyers from nine states and the District of Columbia who filed six lawsuits in October charging the Transportation Security Administration with exceeding its legal authority by continuing to extend a requirement that all public-transportation passengers don face masks. Those cases are all before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The case is Andreadakis v. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, No. 3:22-cv-52. Download the complaint.
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