Former Bellingham employees who sued city over vaccine mandate appeal judge’s dismissal
Eighteen former city employees who sued Bellingham and former Mayor Seth Fleetwood over their dismissal for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate have appealed their case in federal court.
The plaintiffs, who include former police officers, firefighters, mechanics and Public Works Department employees, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Western District Court in Seattle on June 13, 2024. They claimed that the vaccine mandate issued by Fleetwood in September 2021 deprived them of equal protection rights, right to privacy and the option to refuse.
They wrote in the lawsuit that the defendants “engaged in a scorched-earth policy and inflicted, with malicious intent, emotional distress to the fullest extent that one in their positions of authority and power could inflict.”
The plaintiffs requested a jury trial and sought an unspecified amount of punitive and compensatory damages to make up for alleged harms like loss of income, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.
Attorneys for Fleetwood and the city of Bellingham submitted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Aug. 19, arguing that the plaintiffs’ claims “suffer from inherent legal and factual deficiencies.”
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Rothstein granted the motion to dismiss the case on Jan. 21. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled or reopened. Rothstein disagreed with the plaintiffs’ claim that the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 was an “investigational drug” as well as allegations of violating constitutional and state law.
The plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal on Feb. 18. Opening arguments in their case are scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on April 2.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 12:00 AM.