The five remaining plaintiffs who sued, and then seemingly settled, a lawsuit over the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s COVID-19 vaccination policy decided to stick with suing the lab.
“The parties wish to report to the Court that they were unable to resolve this case through mediation,” and will resume active litigation, lawyers for the lab employees and UT-Battelle, said in a June 7 status report filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Tennessee.
Attorneys representing the joint venture made up of the University of Tennessee and Battelle made the contractor’s “last, best and final” offer in May to end the legal battle that started nearly two years ago over workplace vaccination policy at the Department of Energy-owned lab.
After being unable to reach a settlement following the latest extension from U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley, the attorneys met June 6 and agreed to a timetable for resuming the lawsuit.
Any motions for summary judgment, which would allow the court to rule for one side or another without a full trial, “shall be filed as soon as possible, but no later than March 1, 2024,” according to the joint filing.
A trial would take probably about 10 days, according to the filing.
Mediator Chadwick Hatmaker, an attorney in the Knoxville area, filed a one-page form with the court on June 7, saying mediation was terminated without settlement. A telephone conference with Judge Atchley and the parties is scheduled this Wednesday, presumably to discuss details for resumption of the legal fight.
The remaining plaintiffs in the case are Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu, Stephanie Bruffey, Gregory Sheets and William Webb, according to the online court documents. A sixth plaintiff, Mark Cofer, dropped out of the litigation in May, according to online court documents.
The case dates back to October 2021 when the plaintiffs who had sought religious or medical exemptions from mandatory inoculation said the policy gave them little choice but to either take the COVID-19 shot or sacrifice their income from their national laboratory job.
Along the way, the employees returned to work after a restraining order in another federal court was issued. The administration of President Joe Biden this spring vacated the remaining COVID-19 vaccination rules for federal workers and contractors that were instituted during the pandemic.
