GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WTVB) – Federal Magistrate Phillip Green has scheduled an early settlement conference for January 24 in a civil rights lawsuit filed by the Hillsdale County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Jennifer Wortz and Stacy Wohlheter sued the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Health Agency, Health Officer Rebecca Burns and Reading Community Schools on November 10 over September COVID-19 quarantine orders issued by Burns.
Burns rescinded a quarantine order on September 30 after the budget signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer included Senate Bill 68 that would take funding away from local health departments that issue an emergency COVID-19 order. The Community Health Agency said they faced a loss of approximately $1 million in state budget funding.
Gov. Whitmer said SB 68 was “unconstitutional.” But legal counsel for the BHSJCHA said the order stands until ruled otherwise in a court of law.
The suit filed by Wortz and Wohlheter says their minor children were denied a chance for in person learning and were quarantined for 11 days in September after they were identified as close contacts.
The defendants in the suit have filed motions to dismiss. The lawsuit has been moved from Hillsdale County Circuit Court to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
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