Residents filed an 80-page lawsuit against Palm Beach County claiming that facial covering orders are a civil rights violation.
Palm Beach County is the latest government in Florida to be sued over a mask mandate, joining Hillsborough, Orange, Miami-Dade, Leon, and Seminole counties.
On June 23, despite the overwhelming opposition from residents, the Defendant’s BOCC voted unanimously (7-0) to mandate mask for Palm Beach County. Rising numbers in coronavirus cases, pushed the county to make the decision that has now led to a lawsuit.
The lawsuit lists four Plaintiffs, Josie Machovic, Carl Holme, Robert Spreitzer, and Rachel Eade.
Eade is among one of the Plaintiffs receiving national attention after making comments at Palm Beach County Commission meetings. Her comments were spotlighted on this weeks’ “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on HBO.
According to Bocanewsnow, Palm Beach County State Attorney, Dave Aronberg explained how anti-maskers comments were “embarrassing” for Palm Beach County.
The lawsuit states:
“Plaintiff Rachel Eade is a Florida resident, a resident of Palm Beach County, and a business owner who has been severely impacted by orders issued by Defendant Palm Beach County that interferes with her personal liberty, and constitutional rights, including but not limited to freedom of speech, right to privacy, in addition to the constitutionally protected right to enjoy and defend life and liberty.”
The arguments made at the Commission meetings included, “Defendant Palm Beach County has no authority, actual or apparent, under Section 381.00315 to force medical treatments upon any individual in Palm Beach County, inducing but not limited to forcing people to wear medical devices such as facial coverings.”
Other claims involve the lack of conclusive evidence that masks help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Other items from the lawsuit that plaintiffs criticize are as follows:
“(Palm Beach County) has not and cannot demonstrate facial covering are prudent and necessary to ensure health, safety, and welfare. In fact, facial coverings do not ensure health, safety, or welfare but rather can cause serious harm and even death, in addition to civil unrest, conflict, and division, as well as widespread discrimination.”
However, on June 25 the county logged 641 confirmed cases, which is the highest single-day total since the outbreak first hit the U.S.
The entire lawsuit can be found here.
If you have questions about the lawsuit, here are the attorneys filing the suit, and their email addresses — and yes, two are using gmail and yahoo addresses for their legal practices.
Louis Leo: louis@floridacivilrights.org
Joel Medgebow: joel@medgebowlaw.com
Melissa Marts: melissamartesq@gmail.com
Cory Strolla: strollalaw@yahoo.com
Florida Civil Rights Coalition: info@floridacivilrights.org