Category: Mask Lawsuits

A group of nine flight attendants from six states filed suit March 24 against the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to strike down the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, arguing forcing them to obstruct their normal breathing harms their health and being required to enforce the mandate endangers aviation safety as tens of thousands of passengers refuse to comply.

The nine plaintiffs work for Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and United. It’s the first legal challenge to the FTMM filed by flight attendants and the second by airline workers. Ten pilots filed a similar lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

A group of 10 commercial airline pilots from six states filed suit Tuesday against the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to strike down the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, arguing forcing them to obstruct their normal breathing harms their health and endangers aviation safety. It’s the first legal challenge to the FTMM filed by airline workers.

Pilots filed the 61-page complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia just hours after the Senate voted 57-40 to repeal the mask mandate and one day after 17 members of Congress sued CDC in Kentucky. They charge CDC and its parent agency, the Department of Health & Human Services, with seven violations of the law and Constitution. The pilots, who work for four U.S. airlines, ask the court to vacate the mandate and permanently enjoin the federal government from ever issuing it again.

The father of a 4-year-old autistic Florida boy who was refused transportation Feb. 22 by American Airlines from Miami to Boston for a critical medical appointment charged four American employees today with conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of the disabled who can’t medically tolerate wearing face masks. It’s believed to be the first case in the nation where individual airline workers have been named as defendants for their roles in banning the disabled from flying during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michael Seklecki Sr. of Lake Mary, Florida, filed a motion this morning with the federal court in Boston to add as individual defendants Peter Soares, American’s managing director of legal affairs; Irina Spence, a customer care manager in American’s Special Assistance Coordinators Department; Innolene “Doe,” a customer-service agent for American at Miami International Airport who refused to check his son and him in for their flight last month; and Misty “Roe,” a coordinator in American’s Special Assistance Coordinators Department who signed a letter denying Seklecki Sr. a mask exemption for a previous flight Nov. 10, 2021.

American Airlines today refused to board a 4-year-old autistic boy despite his obtaining a mask-exemption letter from the carrier at the instruction of a federal judge. The family is currently stranded at Miami International Airport trying to find another way to get to Boston for the boy’s 11 a.m. medical appointment tomorrow at Massachusetts General Hospital.

A federal judge Feb. 16 directed American Airlines and Southwest Airlines to issue Michael Seklecki Jr. of Sanford, Florida, who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder, a letter exempting him from having to a wear a mask while traveling for the next 30 days until more in-depth court proceedings can be held. American and Southwest complied, but American included an unlawful provision that Michael Jr. has to submit a PCR or antigen COVID-19 test at check in.

The Health Freedom Defense Fund and two women who live in the Tampa Bay area moved for summary judgment Thursday to vacate the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate ordered by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, advancing the case into final proceedings after a legal battle that began in July.

The motion, filed in federal court in Tampa, came one day after a Washington, D.C., man who’s been stranded in Florida for more than eight months because he medically can’t wear a mask filed for summary judgment asking a U.S. district judge in Orlando to strike down the FTMM. And it came the day after Texas became the first state to sue the federal government to halt the mask requirement.

Two sheriff’s deputies threatened to arrest a Louisville woman today when she attempted to enter the Oldham County Courthouse without a mask on to attend a hearing in a case that began in September 2020 when a shooting range had her charged with trespassing for asserting her right to a disability exemption from its mask policy.

Shannon Greer went into the courthouse lobby with her husband, Eric, for her 2 p.m. hearing before Judge Brittney McKenna on her motion to dismiss the three charges against her stemming from the Sept. 12, 2020, incident at Openrange Gun Range in Crestwood. A video Greer posted to YouTube shows Eric entering first and placing a mask on. Shannon then enters the building and its immediately told by an Oldham County sheriff’s deputy “You have to put a mask on mam.”

A federal judge today instructed American Airlines and Southwest Airlines to issue a 4-year-old Florida boy who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder a letter by 5 p.m. today exempting him from having to a wear a mask while traveling for the next 30 days until more in-depth court proceedings can be held. It’s the largest victory so far for a coalition of disabled Americans who have been battling the airlines in courts for more than eight months regarding their illegal mask policies.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris scheduled an emergency hearing for this morning after the two carriers and the government refused to grant a mask exemption to Michael Seklecki Jr. of Sanford, Florida, who must travel to Boston regularly for specialized medical care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. During the brief proceeding today, she directed Roy Goldberg, counsel for American and Southwest, to issue Seklecki’s father, Michael Sr., a mask-exemption letter valid for 30 days on both airlines.

A federal judge today ordered American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to appear at an emergency hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday after the two carriers and the government refused to grant a mask exemption to a 4-year-old Florida boy who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder and must fly Feb. 22 to Boston for important specialized medical treatment.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris held an initial hearing Feb. 11 regarding the lawsuit filed by Michael Seklecki Sr. on behalf of himself and his son, Michael Jr., demanding they both be granted mask exemptions and that CDC’s Federal Transportation Mask Mandate be struck down as illegal and unconstitutional. Saris ordered lawyers for American and Southwest to resolve Michael Jr.’s exemption outside of court and report back by today. However, the two airlines still refuse to approve the boy’s medical waiver.