Category: Infectious Disease Expert Witness
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Infectious Disease Expert Was Allowed to Opine on Masking and Testing
Eight former Redmond firefighters sued the City of Redmond (“City”) after being terminated for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations on religious grounds. They argued the City should have let them continue working with masking and testing rather than requiring vaccination. Plaintiffs filed a Daubert motion to exclude the testimony of the City’s expert, Dr. John Lynch. Infectious…
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Infectious Disease Expert Was Allowed to Opine on the Lack of Severe Lung Damage
Roy Edward Ates, Jr., is a federal prisoner. He alleged that prison officials’ negligence caused him to become infected with COVID and that prison personnel were negligent in providing him medical treatment thereafter. Defendant retained Dr. Alysse Wurcel as an expert witness. She has assisted Massachusetts sheriffs in their response to COVID beginning in March…
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Infectious Disease Expert’s Testimony on Vaccine Hesitancy Admitted
This case arises out of Plaintiff Cheyanne Dixson’s 2022 termination as a police officer with the Issaquah Police Department after Defendant, the City of Issaquah, determined it could not accommodate Plaintiff’s religious exemption to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, an employment requirement implemented by Defendant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dixon was a patrol officer in the City’s…
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Expert Reliably Applied Vocational Counseling Experience to the Facts
In July 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis required its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The policy allowed religious exemptions. Plaintiff Rodney Maki—one of the Bank’s law enforcement officers—requested one, citing his opposition to vaccines linked to fetal stem cells. The Bank granted Maki a temporary accommodation but revoked it a few months…
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Infectious Disease Expert’s Statements on Employer Liability Excluded
Plaintiffs, former employees of a local government public health agency, each filed suit against Rock Island County Health Department (“RICHD”) and Rock Island County, Illinois (“the County”) alleging that their previous employer, RICHD, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The purported violations stem from their employer’s failure to accommodate their religious…
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Infectious Disease Expert Witness Testimony on “Regulatory Approval of HIV Rapid Test to Screen Blood Donors” Excluded
Mariette Waters was on a cruise ship when she had a medical emergency necessitating a blood transfusion. Since the cruise ship operator did not store blood on the vessel for transfusions, it began to solicit passengers to donate blood via the public announcement system. The cruise operator then screened the potential donors, their donated blood,…
