Judge approves $10M class-action settlement over mandatory COVID shots

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Judge approves $10M class-action settlement over mandatory COVID shots

by Liza Carlisle
December 27, 2022

On the heels of the Annual Defense Bill repealing the COVID vaccine mandate for the members of the United States military, other court cases are on the horizon. Mandates that caused Americans to receive the jab under protest or lose their jobs and livelihoods are now being challenged in court.

The military mandate was scrapped as part of the massive $858 billion defense budget. Republicans held firm on their stance that the mandate must be lifted, and now those who serve in the military are not required to take the shot. The question remains, however, and is being voiced, as to the fate of the servicemen and women who refused the shot and were relieved of duty due to their choice. Conservatives are calling for the reinstatement of those military persons back into their original jobs before the pandemic, and the debate is ongoing as to that matter.

Democrats in Congress were forced to rescind the mandate to get the bill passed, as Republicans were solid on that point. Mandate supporter Rep. Adam Smith, Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told colleagues that the decision to impose the vaccine mandate was the right call at the time, saying that it saved lives and made the forces “as ready as they could be.” He also noted that the directive only required the initial vaccination and by now that protection has worn off, NBC reported. “It’s time to update that policy,” Smith said.

But now, as Republicans have won that fight, there is legal movement in the private sector as to the same matter for civilians. Religious exemptions have always been allowed in the case of vaccines, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, those exemptions were waived and the controversial shot forced workers to receive the shot or quit/be fired.

As Just the News reports:

A federal judge has approved a $10.3 million class-action settlement with a university healthcare system and workers who were denied religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Chicago-based NorthShore University HealthSystem came to terms with 500 current and former healthcare workers this summer, but it was only Friday that U.S. District Judge John Kness approved the settlement terms.

The class covers NorthShore team members who submitted religious exemption requests between July 1, 2021, and January 1, 2022, were denied exemptions and either took a vaccine to avoid termination or were fired or resigned due to their religious objections.

The order says no class members “timely opted out” of the settlement or filed a request for exclusion. The plaintiffs’ lawyers at Liberty Counsel will receive $2.06 million in attorney’s fees, and the 13 class representatives, $20,000 each.

Liberty Counsel said the settlement checks will be sent in 60 days. Employees who were fired can apply for rehire within 90 days, “and they will retain their previous seniority level,” the law firm said. Several have already been rehired, Liberty Counsel said.

The position of those refusing the shot has been strengthened by admissions from the drug industry that the vaccine was only minimally tested while it was touted as being “safe” and the reports of residual effects suffered by some of those who did have the shot. some of those reports are beginning to be investigated.

Early in December, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for an investigation into the health problems that are reportedly coming from the taking of the vaccines. DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate the “wrongdoing” including the actions by drug companies spreading “false and misleading claims about the efficacy of the doses.”

Although the CDC, the FDA, and Johns Hopkins emphasized that the vaccine was safe and effective, governor DeSantis is not so sure. He spoke at a live-streamed round table discussion with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and said that it is against Florida law to mislead the public, Politico reported.

“I think people want the truth that I think I think people want accountability,” DeSantis stated. “You need to have a thorough investigation into what’s happened with the shots.”

In the petition to the state Supreme Court asking for the grand jury, the DeSantis administration stated, “pharmaceutical industry has a notorious history of misleading the public for financial gain” and the grand jury will probe “the development, promotion, and distribution of vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection symptoms and transmission.

There are reports of health problems linked to the vaccines, most notable heart function including heart attacks and strokes among the otherwise healthy and the very young. the statement of renouncing responsibility for the shot by the companies producing it was dubious to some.

This week the Florida Supreme Court agreed to convene that grand jury to investigate the wrongdoing in the case of the COVID-19 vaccines. DeSantis’ charges that the companies pushing the vaccines misled the public and are accountable for the results of taking the shot will be investigated for one year.