Three more plaintiffs have pulled out of the COVID-19-related lawsuit brought by some employees of the prime contractor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, leaving only two.
Plaintiffs Stephanie Bruffey, Gregory Sheets and William Webb have agreed to drop their legal claims against UT-Battelle, the joint venture between the University of Tennessee and Battelle which runs the lab, according to a court filing Tuesday, Nov. 21.
The trio are withdrawing “with prejudice,” essentially meaning they cannot refile their case in the future, according to the filing in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Tennessee. This winnowing of remaining plaintiffs occurred a week after the parties filed their final witness lists for a trial scheduled to start April 23, 2024.
“This dismissal is without prejudice to the claims of the remaining plaintiffs (Jeffrey Bilyeu and Jessica Bilyeu) or defenses asserted by the defendant against the remaining plaintiffs which shall continue unaffected by this stipulation of dismissal,” according to the stipulation of dismissal for the two plaintiffs who withdrew with prejudice.
Another of the initial group of plaintiffs, Mark Cofer, withdrew his legal claims “without prejudice” in May, around the time UT-Battelle presented its “last best” settlement offer to the plaintiffs. The case got back on the path toward litigation in June. The case overseen by U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. was seemingly settled back in June 2022 but fell apart after the parties failed to reach agreement on all the details.
The initial half-dozen plaintiffs initially filed their suit in October 2021, claiming UT-Battelle was being too stingy and rigid in approving exemption requests to the COVID-19 vaccination policy for contractors that grew out of President Joe Biden’s executive orders on the subject.
