A Beverly Hills City Councilman is citing First Amendment grounds in arguing that he should be dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by one current and one former Beverly Hills firefighter who challenged the city’s decisions in enforcing Los Angeles County’s health-care worker COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Plaintiffs Josh Sattley, who was fired for not getting vaccinated, and Ettore Berardinelli Jr., who was granted a religious exemption and is still with the department, are suing the city and Councilman John A. Mirisch, alleging the politician infringed on their own free-speech rights as well as their civil rights.
But on Friday, Mirisch’s lawyers filed an anti-SLAPP — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — motion, based on a state law intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
“This is not just a case about plaintiffs’ understanding of their rights; it is an opportunity for plaintiffs to punish Councilmember Mirisch for expressing his support for a health order that the city was legally required to enforce,” Mirisch’s attorneys state in their court papers brought in Los Angeles Superior Court .
As an elected official, Mirisch is entitled to have and express political views, actions intrinsic to the very nature of his role as a public official, the councilman’s lawyers argue in their court papers.
“If political figures are banned from making nonviolent political statements, we no longer live in a democracy,” Mirisch’s lawyers state in their court papers.
Judge Barbara M. Scheper, who is scheduled to rule on Mirisch’s motion on Nov. 17, granted the county’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant on May 28.
Also a plaintiff in the suit brought last Dec. 10 is the organization Protection for the Educational Rights of Kids. PERK’s website states it is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering parents, educators and parents to take an active role in education-centered legislation.
The county’s dismissal motion targeted three of the suit’s 12 causes of action dealing with the plaintiffs’ claims the county did not have the legal authority to impose the vaccine mandate and that the plaintiffs’ privacy and due process rights were being violated. The unchallenged causes of action and pertain to the city and Mirisch, who “singled out the firefighters who submitted requests for religious exemptions (as) anti-vaxxers who were trying to get around the county mandate,” according to the suit.
Muntu Davis, the county’s health officer, issued an order in August 2021 requiring all health-care workers in Los Angeles County get a COVID-19 vaccine, including firefighters. While some employers have recognized requests for religious and medical exemptions, the city of Beverly Hills wants universal vaccination, according to the suit.
“It subjected firefighters who requested a religious exemption, like Mr. Sattley and Mr. Berardinelli, to cross-examination designed to undermine their credibility and to pressure them, under threat of prosecution, to give up their religious freedom and get the shot,” the suit states.
Sattley objected to the vaccine mandate and was fired, the suit states. Berardinelli received a religious exemption, but has been under constant review by the city and subjected to retaliation, the suit alleges.
While extending his religious exemption last fall, the city assigned Berardinelli, who recovered from a COVID-19 infection and believes he has natural immunity, to a different job that receives far fewer calls, according to the suit.