DENVER — A federal judge in Denver sided with the city in a lawsuit filed by several contractor associations that challenged a vaccine requirement for their employees.
However, Judge Christine Arguello said in her ruling that there were "deficiencies" with the pleading from the plaintiffs and gave them 30 days to file an amended complaint to cure the issues. If they fail to do so, her ruling of dismissal of the complaint will stand.
The case stems from a COVID-19 vaccination order for some Denver employees that was first put in place on Aug. 2. That original order included workers in hospitals, schools, childcare centers, and correctional facilities, among others, but did not include contractors.
>The video above is about a Supreme Court decision regarding a federal vaccine mandate.
Roughly a month later on Sept. 1, Denver issued another vaccination order, which added language requiring contractors and subcontractors to comply with and enforce the vaccine mandate.
Several contractors groups filed a lawsuit arguing that Denver did not follow proper procedures and argued since they were not included in the initial August order they were "not subject to its enforcement."
The city argued the complaint should be dismissed because the plaintiffs failed to establish standing. In order for that to be established, they must provide evidence that they've "suffered an injury" that can be traced back to the "challenged conduct," which in this case is the vaccine mandate.
Arguello said the plaintiffs argued "broadly" about that their property rights will be affected by having "to expend their own resources" enforcing the order. She said they failed to provide "specific factual allegations" to back up those claims.
The contract group also argued that they would lose employees due to the mandate and that would "substantially delay" work on Denver projects and their ability to bid on future Denver work.
In response to that claim, Arguello wrote that they failed to demonstrate how enforcement of the order would "lead to this hypothetical scenario in which the contractor incurs such significant losses of employees as to delay projects or affect bidding."
She ultimately ruled that the contractors failed to provide on their claims for relief and dismissed the suit unless an amended claim is filed within 30 days of her Feb. 4 ruling.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS