Texas Coronavirus Contact Tracing is Illegal, Lawsuit Says

More than 1,300 plaintiffs have launched a class action lawsuit in an effort to stop Texas from conducting contact tracing during the coronavirus outbreak. 

The plaintiffs, among them political delegates, business owners and others, claim the use of contact tracing to track the spread of COVID-19 violate their First, Fourth and 14th amendment rights, calling the state’s efforts “unjustified interference” with their lawful activities.

The class action lawsuit names Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others as defendants.

Since mid-March, Abbott has issued several orders regarding public health and the measures needed to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, according to the complaint. These orders included directives on lockdowns, the opening and closing of certain types of businesses and occupancy requirements for various types of establishments.

Around May, the complaint says, Abbott entered into a $295 million contract for contact tracing “in order to begin surveillance monitoring of the daily activities of Texans.” 

The complaint says the contract was signed without a vote, debate or legislative oversight.

Contact tracing is used to track and monitor the personal contacts of infected individuals and notify them of exposure so they can take action to “allegedly prevent the spread of the disease,” the class action lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs claim contact tracing “supports the quarantine of contacts, including forced detention to prevent additional transmission.”

“This tracking of Texan residents includes their social activities, religious attendance, and even the movements of their children in connection with school,” as well as asking Texans who they have associated with and monitoring their movements via their smartphones, the complaint alleges.

“There is no means for any Texan to opt out of this surveillance, as others will be asked to report on everyone with whom they have been in the presence of, without regard to the privacy rights of those who do not want to be surveilled,” the class action lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs allege that the defendants have not been transparent about the details of the $295 million contract. 

The contract tracing class action lawsuit claims that the data collected, and its storage in a database, “imposes a profound chilling effect on First Amendment associative rights of Plaintiffs and all Texans” by infringing on their freedom of association. They claim this violation has caused them monetary injury because people have been deterred from patronizing businesses.

The plaintiffs also allege their right to due process has been violated.

They claim Abbott’s executive orders and the contact tracing contract assume the plaintiffs and their businesses “to be virus incubators despite a lack of evidence demonstrating so and without providing those businesses with any due process to contest that assumption.” 

Abbott’s orders and the contract have “deprived citizens of opportunity to contest their alleged criminal status,” the complaint says.

The plaintiffs go on to allege that contact tracing violates their Fourth Amendment rights.

They claim the defendants’ gathering of data regarding the movement and whereabouts “of political candidates and office-holders would give some an unfair advantage in leaking such information to the media or using in political campaigns near elections.”

Further, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants’ shutdown orders and contact tracing violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by “targeting and disproportionately harming certain activities and businesses, including those of Plaintiffs.”

Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that contact tracing individuals who have visited doctors’ offices and information about who else was seen at these offices constitutes an invasion of privacy and a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“There is no compelling justification for Defendants to track the daily movements of Plaintiffs and other Texans, of whom only a trivial number will have COVID-19,” the class action lawsuit states. 

In related legal news, the U.K. is launching a test this week of its new contact tracing app, which uses technology from Apple and Google. 

A previous attempt at an app launch was scrapped due to accuracy errors.

The plaintiffs in the Texas contact tracing class action lawsuit are seeking a declaratory judgment that the defendants have violated their First, Fourth and 14th amendment rights; an  injunction ordering the defendants to “cease all work towards contact tracing and cancel their above-referenced contract concerning it”; damages in an amount to be determined; pre- and post-judgment interest; court costs and attorneys’ fees; and any other relief deemed appropriate by the Court. 

Are you concerned about your privacy might be violated during contact tracing? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jared Woodfill of Woodfill Law Firm PC.

The Texas Contact Tracing Class Action Lawsuit is Steven F. Hotze, et al. v. Gov. Greg Abbott, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00345, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

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