A state senator who sued over a state Health Department isolation and quarantine rule adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic criticized an appellate court ruling that dismissed the lawsuit.
State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and others in the lawsuit against Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Health Department called the reversal “a calamitous decision.”
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court’s Fourth Department in Rochester ruled Friday that Borrello and the other plaintiffs had no standing to sue. They had won a favorable ruling in a July 2022 decision issued by acting State Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Ploetz in Cattaraugus County. Ploetz said the rule conflicted with existing state law and was unenforceable.
But the appellate court unanimously reversed that ruling and dismissed the lawsuit.
“I consider this a a cop-out on the part of the Appellate Division,” Borrello said. “The fact that they would take a case that was all about the separation of powers, and then say that state legislators would not have standing, is ridiculous.”
Ploetz’s ruling in State Supreme Court in Cattaraugus County invalidated the state’s emergency isolation and quarantine rule change.
“There was a 14-page very detailed decision by the lower court that just absolutely destroyed the government and the Department of Health,” Borrello said. “So the Appellate Division judges just decided not to take it up. Their decision had nothing to do with the merits of the case. They threw it out on a baseless technicality.”
The rule had been extended in 90-day periods, and the state indicated it wanted to make it permanent.
The rule states: “For the purposes of quarantine orders, quarantine locations may include home quarantine, other residential or temporary housing quarantine, or quarantine at such other locations as the public health authority issuing the order deems appropriate, consistent with any direction that the State Commissioner of Health may issue.”
Under the disputed rule, the setting for quarantine and isolation can include a temporary housing location chosen by a public health authority, though in most cases people would voluntarily isolate in their homes.
The rule calls for coordination with law enforcement to ensure people comply with isolation or quarantine orders when necessary.
The lawsuit said the department lacked the authority to institute the rule’s isolation and quarantine procedures.
In a joint statement, the three lawmakers said the appellate decision “paved the way for Hochul and her Department of Health to re-issue this heinous rule” and “set a precedent to preclude citizens from rightfully challenging government overreach in court.”
The three lawmakers and Bronxville attorney Bobbie Anne Cox said they would appeal to the state Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, although there is no guarantee the higher court will accept the case.
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