A judge cited First Amendment grounds in granting a Beverly Hills city councilman’s motion dismissing him as a defendant Thursday 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, sued the city of Beverly Hills and Councilman John A. Mirisch, alleging he infringed on their own free-speech rights as well as their civil rights.
But on Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara M. Scheper granted Mirisch’s 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.
“(Mirisch) did not make a threat, coercion or intimidation intimating that punishment, sanction or adverse regulatory action will imminently follow,” the judge wrote in dismissing the plaintiffs’ claim for First Amendment retaliation.
Addressing the plaintiffs’ civil rights violation allegation against Mirisch, Schepter wrote that Sattley and Berardinelli did not allege that the councilman made any threat of violence against any person or group of people.
“Rather, plaintiffs allege the opposite, that (Mirisch’s) comments constituted a nonviolent threat with severe consequences,” the judge wrote.
Scheper also ordered the plaintiffs to pay Mirisch nearly $13,000 in attorneys’ fees within 30 days.
Mirisch’s attorneys argued in their court papers that as an elected official, the councilman is entitled to have and express political views, actions intrinsic to the very nature of his role as a public official.
“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 stated in their court papers.
If political figures are banned from making nonviolent political statements, “we no longer live in a democracy,” Mirisch’s lawyers stated in their court papers.
Scheper 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 whose website states it is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering parents, educators and parents to take an active role in education-centered legislation.
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.
Although Berardinelli received a religious exemption that was extended in the fall of 2021,he has been under constant review by the city and subjected to retaliation, including being reassigned to a different job that receives fewer calls, the suit alleges. Berardinelli recovered from a COVID-19 infection and believes he has natural immunity, the suit states.