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NACS responds in court to lawsuit over masks, seeks dismissal

Rebecca Green
/
WBOI News

Northwest Allen County Schools and the Allen County Health Department want a lawsuit contesting NACS’ mask requirement dismissed.

The complaint was filed by six parents on behalf of thirteen students. It comes after a year of tension between the NACS board and parents over pandemic restrictions. 

According to court documents filed this week in Allen County Superior Court, the parents who filed suit against the district and the county in September alleging masks and quarantines violate their rights are wrong.

Defense attorneys argue that masks are a “non-invasive common-sense precaution” within “the context of a lethal and highly contagious pandemic,” and are not medical treatment.

Because masks are not medical treatment, a requirement to wear them cannot be refused under religious exemptions.

Mask requirements, quarantine for a communicable disease, and contact tracing do not violate constitutional rights such as unreasonable search and seizure or due process, according to court documents.

A settlement conference is scheduled for later this month, with hearings on the motions to dismiss in late December.

The state of Indiana was also named in the lawsuit, and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office has filed a motion for the judge to rule on the merits of the lawsuit. A hearing on that motion for summary judgment is set for late March.

 
NACS motion for dismissal by Rebecca Green on Scribd

NACS brief in support of motion to dismiss by Rebecca Green on Scribd

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Rebecca manages the news at WBOI. She joined the staff in December 2017, and brought with her nearly two decades of experience in print journalism, including 15 years as an award-winning reporter for the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne.
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