Court Opinion

ID: 9910508
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-15 19:01:02.976854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:53:07.126881
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-11532   Document: 94-1    Date Filed: 12/15/2023   Page: 1 of 3

                                                [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                 In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                         ____________________

                              No. 22-11532
                         Non-Argument Calendar
                         ____________________

       LUCAS WALL,
                                                   Plaintiﬀ-Appellant,
       versus
       CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,
       DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,
       TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION,
       DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
       DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, et al.,

                                               Defendants-Appellees,
USCA11 Case: 22-11532        Document: 94-1       Date Filed: 12/15/2023       Page: 2 of 3

       2                        Opinion of the Court                    22-11532

                              ____________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Middle District of Florida
                    D.C. Docket No. 6:21-cv-00975-PGB-DCI
                            ____________________

       Before JORDAN, GRANT, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
              In December 2021, Lucas Wall filed a pro se complaint
       against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the
       Department of Health and Human Services, the Greater Orlando
       Aviation Authority (GOAA), and the Central Florida Regional
       Transportation Authority (LYNX) seeking to enjoin their
       enforcement of the federal transportation mask mandate,1 the
       international traveler COVID-19 testing requirement, 2 and GOAA
       and LYNX’s mask requirements on the grounds that these orders
       violated a host of federal statutes and the Constitution. The district
       court granted summary judgment to the CDC and HHS, dismissed

       1 Requirement for Persons to Wear Masks While on Conveyances and at

       Transportation Hubs, 86 Fed. Reg. 8025 (Feb. 3, 2021).
       2 Requirements for Negative Pre-Departure Covid-19 Test Result or
       Documentation of Recovery from Covid-19 for All Airline or Other Aircraft
       Passengers Arriving Into the United States From Any Foreign Country, 86 Fed.
       Reg. 69256 (Dec. 7, 2021).
USCA11 Case: 22-11532         Document: 94-1        Date Filed: 12/15/2023         Page: 3 of 3

       22-11532                  Opinion of the Court                                3

       Wall’s state-law claims against GOAA and LYNX,3 and denied
       summary judgment to Wall.
               This Court recently held in Health Freedom Def. Fund v.
       President of the United States that a challenge to the federal
       transportation mask mandate was moot following a declaration
       that the public health emergency was over. 71 F.4th 888 (11th Cir.
       2023). Although Wall also challenges the international testing
       order, which was not at issue in Health Freedom, the reasoning of
       that decision indicates that the testing order is moot as well because
       it expired at the end of the public health emergency. Requirements
       for Negative Pre-Departure Covid-19 Test Result, 86 Fed. Reg. at
       69262. As in Health Freedom, none of this Circuit’s mootness
       exceptions apply to either order. See Health Freedom, 71 F.4th at
       892–94.       Accordingly, Wall’s challenges to the federal
       transportation mask mandate and the international traveler testing
       requirement are moot.
                                      *       *       *
             For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE the judgment
       below with instructions that the district court DISMISS the case as
       moot.

       3 On appeal, Wall filed an unopposed motion to remove GOAA and LYNX as

       parties. Because he does not appeal the district court’s dismissal of his claims
       against GOAA and LYNX, Wall’s motion is GRANTED.