2021-01220678-CU-WM-CJC (Orange County Superior Court, Sept. 14, 2021).
This lawsuit was filed on behalf of individual plaintiff Peggy Hall and nonprofit Children’s Health Defense alleging that the OC BOS had failed to satisfy its statutory duties to review local conditions in the county and to terminate the declared local emergencies for Covid-19 at the “soonest possible date that conditions warranted.” The lawsuit further alleged that OC BOS members were keeping the county under an unlawful state of emergency in order to personally benefit from the millions in Covid funds from the federal government. Although the plaintiffs received a favorable ruling from the first judge assigned to this case, opposing counsel was able to remove this judge and push the final hearing on the matter past the date when Governor Newsom terminated the state-wide emergency – February 2023 — and the fourth judge assigned to this matter then disingenuously deemed the lawsuit “moot.” Months after this terrible decision, one member of the OC BOS, Supervisor Andrew Do, pled guilty to using millions in Covid funds meant for his district to personally enrich himself and his family – as the plaintiffs had alleged all along. Plaintiffs are appealing the decision in this matter.