Liberian Community Association v. Lamont


17-1558 Liberian Community Association v. Lamont UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT August Term 2017 (Argued: February 8, 2018 Decided: August 14, 2020) No. 17-1558 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– LIBERIAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF CONNECTICUT, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, LOUISE MENSAH-SIEH, on behalf of herself and her minor children B.D. and S.N., on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, VICTOR SIEH, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, EMMANUEL KAMARA, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, ASSUNTA NIMLEY-PHILLIPS, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, LAURA SKRIP, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, RYAN BOYKO, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, ESTHER YALARTAI, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, BISHOP HARMON YALARTAI, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, -v.- NED LAMONT, Governor, DEIDRE S. GIFFORD, Acting Commissioner of Public Health, JEWEL MULLEN, Former Commissioner of Public Health, Defendants-Appellees. 1 1 The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the caption as set forth above. 1 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Before: WINTER, LIVINGSTON, and CHIN, Circuit Judges. Plaintiffs-Appellants Ryan Boyko, Laura Skrip, the Mensah-Sieh family, Assunta Nimley-Phillips, Bishop Harmon Yalartai, Esther Yalartai, and the Liberian Community Association of Connecticut (“Appellants”) appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Covello, J.) denying their motion for class certification and dismissing their suit for lack of standing and based on qualified immunity. Appellants challenged the quarantine decisions of certain Connecticut state officials in response to an Ebola epidemic in West Africa. On appeal, they primarily argue that (1) they suffered actual or imminent injuries that create standing to seek prospective relief to avert allegedly unconstitutional future quarantines; (2) clearly established law required that any quarantine imposed be medically necessary and comport with certain procedural safeguards; and (3) their class is sufficiently numerous to merit certification. We conclude that (1) the district court properly deemed their injuries too speculative to support standing, and (2) the law surrounding quarantines was not clearly established such that a state official may be held liable for the actions taken here. We do not reach the class certification issue because it is mooted by our conclusion as to standing. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED and REMANDED with instructions to amend the judgment to clarify that the state law claims were dismissed without prejudice. Judge CHIN concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion. FOR PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS: D’LANEY GIELOW (Michael J. Wishnie, Amy Kapczynski, Dana Bolger, Kyle Edwards, Megha Ram, on the briefs), Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT. JEREMY ERSHOW (Susan J. Kohlmann, Jeremy M. Creelan, Irene M. Ten Cate, on the briefs), Jenner & Block LLP, New York, NY. 2 (Robert M. Palumbos, Duane Morris LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for George J. Annas, Jennifer Bard, Leo Beletsky, Micah Berman, Scott Burris, Erwin Chemerinsky, Linda C. Fentiman, Lance Gable, Brandon Garrett, Lawrence O. Gostin, Jonathan Hafetz, Helen ...

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