RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a mother and son can sue a public school system and a doctors’ group over allegations that the boy was given a COVID-19 vaccine without consent, according to the Associated Press.
Emily Happel and her son Tanner Smith allege that Smith, then 14, received the vaccine in August 2021 at a Guilford County high school clinic despite his protests and without a signed parental consent form.
Chief Justice Paul Newby, writing the majority opinion, stated that the federal law does not prevent the lawsuit from proceeding on claims that state constitutional rights were violated.
According to the lawsuit, Smith went to the clinic to be tested for COVID-19 after a cluster of cases among his school’s football team. He did not expect vaccinations to be administered there.
The family alleges that when the clinic could not reach his mother, a worker instructed another to administer the vaccine to Smith anyway. The lawsuit claims battery and violations of constitutional rights against the Guilford County Board of Education and the Old North State Medical Society, which helped operate the clinic.
A panel of the state Court of Appeals had previously ruled that the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act shielded the defendants from liability.
The act provides immunity to individuals and organizations performing countermeasures during a public health emergency, activated by a COVID-19 emergency declaration in March 2020.
However, the Supreme Court found that the act’s immunity only covers tort injuries, not constitutional violations. Associate Justice Allison Riggs dissented, arguing that state constitutional claims should be preempted by the federal law.
The case will now return to a lower court for trial, where Happel and Smith will pursue their claims of battery and constitutional rights violations.
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