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Covid-19 lawsuits

Lawsuits related to Covid-19 filed in Boston state and federal courts.

Boston cop who used to stand outside the mayor's house yelling about Covid-19 sues over her firing, says it violated her free-speech and religious rights

By adamg - 1/2/25 - 10:36 am

Shana Cottone, fired as a Boston Police sergeant in 2023, this week sued to get her job back, charging she was terminated as retaliation for exercising her First Amendment religious and free-speech rights by refusing Covid-19 shots and then organizing protests against city Covid-19 policies, which included early morning, bullhorn-enhanced protests outside Mayor Wu's Roslindale home and the swarming of two Boston pizzerias by people who refused to show proof of vaccination. Read more.

Judge throws out lawsuit by North End restaurant owners over city's outdoor-patio restrictions, says mayor wasn't out to get Italians

By adamg - 12/20/24 - 4:26 pm

A federal judge ruled today North End restaurant owners simply had no case against Mayor Wu for first ordering fees on North End restaurants that wanted to use city sidewalks and curbs for outdoor dining and then banning private patios on public ways in the neighborhood. Read more.

Two RNs at Boston hospital for burned children sue over their firing for refusing what they call experimental Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 11/30/24 - 12:08 pm

Two registered nurses fired by Shriners Children's Hospital Boston for refusing to get Covid-19 vaccinations yesterday sued the hospital, charging that the hospital, with "evil motive or intent," was doing the bidding of federal and state governments and so deprived them of their 14th-Amendment rights to refuse when they ordered employees to become "human subjects in federally funded research activities" and get vaccinated. Read more.

Boston College asserts it had a religious-freedom right to make employees get Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 11/27/24 - 2:48 pm

Boston College is fighting back against a worker who's suing it for disregarding what he claims is his religious right to not get a Covid-19 shot in a way that other organizations facing similar suits cannot: It argues it has its own religious rights under the First Amendment to require workers to get vaccinated. Read more.

Adherent of religion that believes Satan created the earth allowed to continue suit against Boston College for Covid-related firing

By adamg - 11/13/24 - 12:51 pm

A federal judge ruled yesterday that a fired landscaper at Boston College can continue his case that his 2021 firing for refusing Covid-19 shots violated his religious rights under the First Amendment. Read more.

Concord homeowners lose bid to keep people off a path that has been a public way since before the Revolution

By adamg - 10/21/24 - 2:10 pm

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that what was once a two-mile road from Carlisle down towards the center of Concord is still legally open to the public and property owners need to stop blocking it with the locked gates and warning signs they first put up in the early days of the pandemic to try to bar hikers out for fresh air. Read more.

Supreme Court tells Carlisle residents still upset about face masks in 2021 to give it a rest

By adamg - 10/19/24 - 1:34 pm

The Carlisle Mosquito buzzes that the US Supreme Court this week declined to hear arguments by a group of Carlisle residents who felt the town was trampling on their rights in 2021 by adopting regulations requiring mask use in the town library and whatever other public spaces the small town has. Read more.

Boston cop who was fired because of Jan. 6 tweets calling Democrats and some Republicans traitors sues over that and city's denial of a religious exemption for Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 10/19/24 - 10:30 am

Joseph Abasciano, fired as a Boston cop in 2023 for going to Washington and posting a series of tweets about the "traitors" in the Capitol and across the country before and during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, yesterday sued Boston and its police department, alleging violations of his First Amendment rights to both free speech and religious freedom by a mayor and police commissioner allegedly out to get him. Read more.

Jewish woman claims she was forced into quitting her job at the T for refusing to get Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 10/17/24 - 9:46 am

A former MBTA employee who says she was forced to retire in 2022 after the T denied her request for a religious exemption from Covid-19 shots, is suing the agency for lost wages, lost retirement benefits and punitive damages. Read more.

Tufts ER doctor sues hospital because she was fired for refusing Covid-19 shots in 2021

By adamg - 10/9/24 - 11:31 am

A doctor who spent 29 years in the emergency room at Tufts Medical Center yesterday sued the hospital for at least $6 million for rejecting her request for a religious exemption from Covid-19 shots in 2021 because she believes the vaccines were derived from aborted fetuses and that goes against her Christian beliefs. Read more.

Carlisle residents who were big mad about face masks in 2021 still big mad, hope Supreme Court will listen to them when other courts told them to go away

By adamg - 9/20/24 - 3:49 pm

A group of residents in the Concord suburb of Carlisle are hoping the Supreme Court can deliver the righteous retribution they feel their hamlet deserves for daring to require people to wear masks when entering the town library or other public indoor spaces for a few months at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more.

Nurse who rejects major tenets of Western medicine can continue her religious-discrimination suit against Boston Medical Center over the Covid-19 shots she refused, judge rules

By adamg - 9/16/24 - 3:38 pm

A federal judge ruled today that a nurse who believes in Mother Nature but not most of western medicine can continue pursuing her lawsuit against Boston Medical Center for firing her in October, 2021 after she refused to comply with a hospital requirement that employees get vaccinated against Covid-19 in 2021. Read more.

More local college students lose another suit over the move to online classes as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold

By adamg - 9/4/24 - 10:57 am

A federal judge yesterday threw out what was left of a class-action lawsuit by Boston College students against the school for the way it shifted classes from in person to online in the spring of 2020 as Covid-19 spread across the state. Read more.

Jehovah's Witness files second suit over his firing as a Boston cop for refusing Covid-19 shots, tests

By adamg - 8/26/24 - 2:51 pm

A former Boston cop who sued the city over his firing in state court in 2022 last week filed a similar suit in federal court - but added the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to his list of defendants he says did him wrong. Read more.

Appeals court reinstates religious-freedom lawsuit against Milton Hospital by office manager fired for refusing Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 8/14/24 - 10:44 am

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday a lower-court judge was too hasty in dismissing a lawsuit by a Milton Hospital employee who believes current Covid-19 vaccines are made from aborted fetuses and reinstated her claim against the hospital for firing her in 2022 for refusing to get vaccinated or provide her with alternative working conditions to shield her from the public and other hospital workers. Read more.

Judge rules Boston Medical Center was within its rights to fire RN who refused Covid-19 shots

By adamg - 5/28/24 - 3:22 pm

A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit by a former Boston Medical Center registered nurse who sued the hospital after it fired her in October, 2021 for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Read more.

Viruses are not like fires, so court dismisses suit by Davio's restaurant chain for losses related to Covid-19

By adamg - 5/20/24 - 11:32 am

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today tossed a lawsuit by the owner of the Davio's chain of Italian steakhouses against its insurer, which had told Davio's that its "all risks" policy did not, in fact, cover all risks, specifically losses from being forced to close or limit service in dining rooms during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more.

For second time, one-time BU theology student has lawsuit over school's one-time Covid-19 testing requirement dismissed

By adamg - 4/13/24 - 9:51 pm

A federal appeals court yesterday upheld an earlier lower-court ruling that a woman who was suspended from the theology master's program at Boston University for refusing to take the nasal Covid-19 tests the university once required has no case because the school no longer requires the tests. Read more.

Court upholds dismissal of suit by BU students over campus shutdown at the start of the pandemic

By adamg - 3/14/24 - 10:33 am

A federal appeals court yesterday upheld a lower-court judge's dismissal of a suit by several Boston University students over the move to online education, ruling that a state law passed last year specifically to bar such suits is constitutionally valid. Read more.

MGH nurse who says she got side effects from Covid-19 shots sues because she was fired for refusing a booster shot

By adamg - 1/25/24 - 12:19 pm

Florrie McCarthy, who says she worked 36 years as a registered nurse at Mass. General, charges the hospital fired her after rejecting her request for a medical exemption for a Covid-19 booster despite a letter from the hospital's own neurology department that it "could not rule" out her earlier Covid-19 shots for "neurological symptoms" she experienced after getting the first two vaccine shots. Read more.

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