Wiley’s face mask decision upheld in court of appeals

By LOUISE WREGE

HP Staff Writer

ST. JOSEPH — The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld last year’s decision by retired Berrien County Trial Court Judge Dennis Wiley to dismiss a case about face masks in schools.

In January 2022, a private Facebook group called Berrien County Parents for School Freedoms raised money to have a lawsuit brought against three local school districts, alleging they were overstepping their authority by making healthy students wear masks. The lawsuit was against the Lakeshore, St. Joseph and Watervliet school districts and their respective boards of education, along with the districts’ superintendents.

The plaintiffs were asking for declaratory relief, an end to the mask mandates and a restraining order preventing future mandates. It was filed by four parents who have five children in the school districts.

However, the mask mandates were lifted by the school districts by February 2022.

During an April hearing, Wiley ruled the case was moot because there is no longer a mask mandate. In addition, he said in his opinion that he couldn’t make a ruling on a future event that hasn’t happened.

In the four-page opinion, the court of appeals stated the plaintiffs claimed the trial court erred because the school districts didn’t “concede the wrongfulness of their conduct in adopting those policies and there remains a constant threat that the school districts will reinstitute mask requirements.”

They also argued the issues pose “questions of public significance and that those issues are likely to recur, yet evade judicial review.”

The court of appeals ruling stated that no meaningful relief could be granted because there was no longer a mask mandate. In addition, it found the school districts lifted the mask mandates not because of the lawsuit, but because the public health advisory on masking while indoors was lifted on Feb. 16, 2022, by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition, the court of appeals found judicial review would not be evaded because the mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic lasted for several months, giving plenty of time for the courts to get involved.

No one from the Facebook group could be reached for comment Monday.

Contact: lwrege@TheHP.com, 932-0361, Twitter: @HPWrege