Peacehealth Lawsuit WIN!

Update from Pete Serrano

Hello SMF family! Yesterday, we received an Order from the court in our Zimmerman vs Peacehealth DENYING Peacehealths efforts to dismiss the lawsuit. As you may recall this case was brought in December of 2022 when SMF filed a lawsuit on behalf of 50 Peacehealth employees who were placed on indefinite administrative leave without pay for failure to receive the COVID-19 shot. These employees sought religious exemptions and received them, but PeaceHealth refused to accommodate them. We are seeking injunctive relief (to end the indefinite leave without pay and regain employment) and damages. 

Watch Pete’s recent video update on Peacehealth below:

This latest order from United States District Court Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright   DENIED in part and GRANTED in part PeaceHealth's Motion to Dismiss.  This is a huge step in the right direction for this case given the government overreach issues facing Washington state. 

The Judge kept the following three claims alive: 

Plaintiffs’ Failure to Accommodate - Peacehealth granted religious exemptions but then refused to provide accommodations citing “undue hardship.” It is thus the burden of Peacehealth to prove undue hardship was at play when determining their vaccination and exemption policy. The judge states: “At this stage, with the limited record before the Court, Defendants have not met their burden.” Motion to Dismiss - denied!

Unlawful Employment Discrimination - This has been SMF’s original claim cited by laws defined in the WLAD. The judge has denied the Motion to Dismiss on this point, as well.

Plaintiffs' Claim for Injunctive relief regarding Plaintiffs’ individual reasonable accommodation - Claim for Injunctive Relief regarding the Vaccine Policy was GRANTED with prejudice (as we understand, the policy is no longer in place as it was replaced with other similar “requirements”).

SMF included individual Defendants in our claims. The Judge dismissed the individual Defendants (Peacehealth executives), but left Peacehealth in, so we can proceed against the entity. Great news!  

The judge also denied the following claims made by SMF: 

Wage Theft, Arbitrary and Capricious Government Action, and Declaratory Relief. 

In our most recent filing, SMF raised three new claims: Disparate Treatment, Disparate Impact, and Hostile Work Environment. PeaceHealth now has 30 days to address these new claims raised in our amended complaint.

This is a big win for our clients, the SMF team and medical freedom! While the news cycle right now is chaotic, take note of the wins coming out of the courts lately, Britto v. ATF being the most recent. There is a shift taking place and while it may not seem like much is happening, justice and the rule of law are being upheld in many instances. It’s a battle for sure but a battle which we are well-equipped to win.

Attached below is the Order filed November 9th, 2023.                                                

Zimmerman V

258KB ∙ PDF file

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