A federal judge has ruled two people who claim their asthma makes them unable to wear face coverings over their noses and mouths, as required by an executive order issued by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, cannot sue the governor under the Americans with Disabilities Act after that order was cited by retailers who denied entry to their stores to people without face masks.
On Nov. 10, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman granted Pritzker’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant in the attempted class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit had been filed in May by plaintiffs Marcus Lewis and Kelly King. The two plaintiffs represented themselves in the case.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs asserted their rights under the ADA were violated when they were denied entry to Chicago retail stores in April. They said store personnel at stores in Chicago, including a Walgreens, Dollar General and Walmart, denied them entry to their stores, because they were not wearing face masks, as required by orders issued by Pritzker in the name of reducing the spread of COVID-19.
They claimed they could not wear the masks because they suffer from chronic asthma, and so, are considered disabled under the ADA.
They asserted those stores denied them entry in reliance on orders issued by Pritzker, commonly known as the statewide face mask mandates.
They asserted Pritzker also should be held responsible because he “knew or should have known” his orders would be interpreted in a discriminatory manner by retailers and others.
Judge Coleman, however, said Pritzker can’t be sued in this manner.
While the businesses may have cited the governor’s order, she said, it was the businesses who denied the plaintiffs entry for not wearing a face mask, not Pritzker. Nor were the plaintiffs denied access by “any state or local government … to public services, programs, or other activities, such as public schools or county courthouses.”
Further, she said, “plaintiffs do not allege that Governor Pritzker owns, leases, or operates these stores,” she said.
Pritzker was dismissed as a defendant from the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning she did not believe the plaintiffs had the ability to fix their complaint to find a way to add Pritzker as a plaintiff in the future.
Pritzker was represented by the Illinois Attorney General’s office.