506 F.Supp.3d 203
S.D.N.Y.2020Background
- Plaintiffs (Coney Island Prep, individuals, nonprofit organizations, and a city councilmember) sued HHS and CDC alleging failures to produce statutorily required reports, to permit public participation, and an arbitrary change in COVID-19 hospitalization reporting from NHSN to HHS Protect.
- Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction ordering production of outstanding reports/participation opportunities and a return to the NHSN database.
- Defendants acknowledged some delays but represented many reports were completed or imminent, that some duties do not require public notice-and-comment, and that several reports do not directly concern COVID-19.
- The district court framed the dispositive question as whether Plaintiffs made the required strong showing of irreparable harm for mandatory relief.
- The court concluded Plaintiffs failed to show informational, procedural, or organizational irreparable harm and denied the preliminary injunction without reaching other defenses (standing, merits).
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irreparable informational injury from withheld statutory reports | Lack of reports/data prevents safe operation, planning, advocacy, and tailors pandemic response | Many reports are for Congress not the public; most delayed reports are not COVID-specific; alleged harms are speculative | Plaintiffs failed to show the deprivation would substantially and certainly impair them; informational harm too speculative; no irreparable harm shown |
| Procedural injury from alleged failure to provide participation opportunities | Plaintiffs entitled to participate in required meetings/notice-and-comment and were denied procedural rights | Statutes do not entitle these plaintiffs to participate; required participants are limited and defendants largely satisfied consultation duties | Court: Plaintiffs were not shown to have been denied participation rights or that any denial caused concrete irreparable harm |
| Organizational diversion of resources | CIP and Housing Works diverted resources to pandemic response because of lack of federal disclosures | Diversion is caused by the pandemic itself, not defendants’ alleged statutory delays | Court: Resource diversion traced to pandemic, not defendants’ conduct; not irreparable injury attributable to defendants |
| Database shift (NHSN → HHS Protect) / APA arbitrary-and-capricious claim | Moving hospitalization reporting to HHS Protect reduced transparency and harmed public reliance | Plaintiffs did not allege they relied on or used NHSN/HHS Protect data; harm to third parties not shown | Court: Plaintiffs did not demonstrate a concrete, particularized injury from the database switch; claim insufficient to show irreparable harm |
Key Cases Cited
- N. Am. Soccer League, LLC v. U.S. Soccer Fed’n, 883 F.3d 32 (2d Cir. 2018) (preliminary injunction factors)
- Yang v. Kosinski, 960 F.3d 119 (2d Cir. 2020) (heightened showing required for mandatory injunction)
- LSSi Data Corp. v. Time Warner Cable, Inc., 892 F. Supp. 2d 489 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (irreparable harm is the most important injunction factor)
- Rodriguez v. DeBuono, 175 F.3d 227 (2d Cir. 1999) (irreparable harm must be actual and imminent)
- Lawyers’ Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law v. Presidential Advisory Comm’n, 265 F. Supp. 3d 54 (D.D.C. 2017) (informational nondisclosure can support irreparable injury when deprivation substantially impairs plaintiffs)
- Seife v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., 440 F. Supp. 3d 254 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (informational-injury/standing principles)
- Nat’l Treasury Empls. Union v. Newman, 768 F. Supp. 8 (D.D.C. 1991) (procedural participation rights can constitute irreparable harm when denied)
- Pen Am. Ctr. v. Trump, 448 F. Supp. 3d 309 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (organizational diversion-of-resources injury standard)
- Pfizer Inc. v. United States, 939 F.3d 173 (2d Cir. 2019) (interpretive canon noscitur a sociis cited regarding statutory participant categories)