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Wright v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health

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CASE: Robert Wright and Johnny Kula v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health, a Massachusetts agency, and Margaret R. Cooke, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in her official capacity.

STATUS: Active

NCLA ROLE: Counsel

COURTS HEARD IN: D. Mass.

ORIGINAL COURT: U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

OPENED: November 14, 2022

AGENCIES: Massachusetts Department of Public Health

FOCUS AREAS:

Due Process Violations

The due process of law guarantees a right to be held to account only through the processes of an impartial court—something administrative tribunals violate every day.

Unreasonable Searches

The Fourth Amendment forbids warrantless searches and seizures of information, yet the Administrative State violates this right to privacy through administrative subpoenas and warrants, automated information collection devices, civil investigative demands, and “voluntary” requests for information.

CASE SUMMARY

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) worked with Google to auto-install spyware on the smartphones of more than one million Commonwealth residents, without their knowledge or consent, in a misguided effort to combat Covid-19. Such brazen disregard for civil liberties violated the United States and Massachusetts Constitutions. NCLA filed a class-action lawsuit, Wright v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health, et al., challenging DPH’s covert installation of a Covid tracing app that tracked and recorded the movement and personal contacts of Android mobile device users without owners’ permission or awareness.

Plaintiffs Robert Wright and Johnny Kula own and use Android mobile devices and live or work in Massachusetts. Begininning in June 2021 DPH worked with Google to secretly install the app onto over one million Android mobile devices located in Massachusetts without obtaining any search warrants, in violation of the device owners’ constitutional and common-law rights to privacy and property. Plaintiffs have constitutionally protected liberty interests in not having their whereabouts and contacts surveilled, recorded, and broadcasted, and in preventing unauthorized and unconsented access to their personal smartphones by government agencies.

OUR CLIENT

Robert Wright, Plaintiff

OUR TEAM

Sheng Li
Litigation Counsel
Margaret A. Little
Senior Litigation Counsel
John J. Vecchione
Senior Litigation Counsel

RELEVANT MATERIALS

NCLA FILINGS

Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint

May 22, 2023 | Read More

First Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

March 20, 2023 | Read More

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

November 14, 2022 | Read More

PRESS RELEASES

Watch: Government Spyware on Your Phone? Unfortunately, There’s an App for That

July 9, 2023 | Read More

NCLA Files Class-Action Against Massachusetts for Auto-Installing Covid Spyware on 1 Million Phones

November 15, 2022 | Read More

IN THE MEDIA

New York and Massachusetts: Your Digital Devices Are Constitution-Free Zones

NCLA Blog

August 16, 2023

Health Care or Spyware? Lawsuit Attacks Mass. Covid-Tracking App

The Boston Globe

February 7, 2023

Mass. Health Officials Worked with Google to Covertly Install COVID ‘Spyware’ into 1M Phones, Lawsuit Claims

Fox Business

February 7, 2023

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