By Leslie Manookian

Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), California Educators for Medical Freedom, and individual plaintiffs have won their appeal in the Ninth Circuit on LAUSD's Employee Covid Vaccination Mandate.

Health Freedom Defense Fund et. al, led by the exceptional legal team of John Howard and Scott Street at JW Howard Attorneys, has won a significant victory in the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Unified School District's ("LAUSD") mandatory vaccination policy for all employees.

Reversing the decision of the Central District of California in Los Angeles, the Ninth Circuit majority held that, first, the case was not mooted by LAUSD's rescission of the mandate after an oral argument last September, 2023. The majority called out LAUSD's gamesmanship for what it was – a bald-faced attempt at avoiding an adverse ruling by trying to create an issue of mootness.