Court Opinion

ID: 9939613
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-10 21:00:28.707016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:41:32.183380
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-2190      Doc: 55        Filed: 02/09/2024   Pg: 1 of 4

                                           UNPUBLISHED

                              UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                  FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-2190

        CATHERINE ANTUNES,

                            Plaintiff – Appellant,

                     v.

        XAVIER BECERRA, in his official capacity as Secretary of U.S. Department of
        Health and Human Services; RECTOR AND VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY
        OF VIRGINIA,

                            Defendants – Appellees,

                     and

        UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEMS; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
        HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES; FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION;
        ROBERT CALIFF, M.D., in his official capacity as Commissioner of the U.S. Food
        and Drug Administration,

                            Defendants.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at
        Charlottesville. Norman K. Moon, Senior District Judge. (3:21-cv-00042-NKM-JCH)

        ARGUED: January 25, 2024                                    Decided: February 9, 2024

        Before KING and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
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        ARGUED: Edward Scott Lloyd, LLOYD LEMMON & HALE, PLLC, Front Royal,
        Virginia, for Appellant. Frederick William Eberstadt, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY
        GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia; Sean R. Janda, UNITED STATES
        DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Brian M.
        Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Daniel Tenny, Civil Division,
        UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Samuel Bagenstos,
        General Counsel, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
        SERVICES, Washington, D.C.; Mark Raza, Chief Counsel, Silver Spring, Maryland,
        Wendy Vicente, Deputy Chief Counsel, Litigation, James Allred, Associate Chief Counsel,
        UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, Rockville, Maryland, for
        Appellee Xavier Becerra. Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, Charles H. Slemp, III, Chief
        Deputy Attorney General, Andrew N. Ferguson, Solicitor General, Erika L. Maley,
        Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Kevin M. Gallagher, Deputy Solicitor General,
        OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for
        Appellee Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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        PER CURIAM:

              This civil action stems from the University of Virginia Health Systems’ COVID-19

        vaccination mandate for employees and plaintiff Catherine Antunes’s November 2021

        discharge from her position as a nurse for refusing to comply with that mandate. Following

        her termination, Antunes sued in the Western District of Virginia, asserting a variety of

        state and federal claims by her operative Third Amended Complaint of March 2022 (the

        “Complaint”). In pertinent part, the Complaint alleges that the University of Virginia

        Health Systems and the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (together, the

        “UVA Health Defendants”) contravened Antunes’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment

        rights in discharging her. The Complaint also alleges that several federal officials —

        specifically, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the “DHHS”); Xavier

        Becerra, the Secretary of the DHHS; the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”); and

        Robert Califf, the FDA Commissioner (collectively, the “Federal Defendants”) — violated

        the Fourteenth Amendment and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by failing to prevent

        the UVA Defendants from firing Antunes.

              In September 2022, the district court dismissed all Antunes’s claims against the

        UVA Health Defendants under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state

        a claim upon which relief can be granted, and all claims against the Federal Defendants

        under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of constitutional standing to sue. See Antunes v. Rector &

        Visitors of Univ. of Va., 627 F. Supp. 3d 553 (W.D. Va. 2022) (the “Memorandum

        Opinion”). Antunes timely noted this appeal, naming only the University of Virginia

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        Health Systems and Secretary Becerra as appellees and contesting the dismissal of the

        claims described above.

               Having assessed the various submissions of the parties and with the benefit of oral

        argument, we are satisfied that the district court did not err in dismissing Antunes’s claims.

        Indeed, we readily adopt the court’s carefully crafted and well-reasoned Memorandum

        Opinion addressing the relevant issues. We therefore reject each of Antunes’s appellate

        contentions and affirm.

                                                                                         AFFIRMED

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