In Fulmore v. City of Englewood, (NJ App., Aug. 30, 2024), a New Jersey appellate court dismissed a suit brought by an employee of the city's Department of Public Works who contended that his rights were violated when, early in the Covid pandemic, the city's health officer disclosed to plaintiff's pastor that plaintiff was supposed to be under quarantine because of exposure to Covid. Plaintiff, who was an associate minister at a Baptist church, had participated in an in-person recording of a religious service without disclosing to other participants that he was supposed to be in quarantine. the court said in part:
Here, plaintiff's claim that Fedorko violated his constitutional right to privacy when he disclosed plaintiff's quarantine status to Pastor Taylor is unavailing. Fedorko's disclosure to Pastor Taylor occurred on April 10, 2020, in the context of a public health emergency, where COVID-19 "created an immediate and ongoing public health emergency that require[d] swift action to protect not only the City's employees, but the public they [were] hired to serve....
... "Given the scientifically undisputed risk of spreading this deadly virus," defendants' interest in protecting the public health from potential exposure to COVID-19 outweighed plaintiff's privacy interest in his quarantine status....
Rejecting plaintiff's claim that his religious free exercise rights were violated, the court said in part:
Here, even when viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the record is devoid of evidence indicating that Fedorko's disclosure of plaintiff's quarantine status to Pastor Taylor had a "coercive effect" on plaintiff's religious practice....
... At his deposition, plaintiff testified that defendants' actions "changed [his] whole religious belief" and his "whole outlook on church." He claimed defendants "ruined the relationship" he had had with Pastor Taylor "for the last [twenty-eight] years."...
However, plaintiff acknowledged that since the April 2020 incident, he had not been "barred" from church, nor had he ever received any "texts or messages [from Pastor Taylor] . . . saying [he was not] welcome at the church" or that Pastor Taylor "did[ not] want [plaintiff] to preach there anymore."
