Plaintiffs Win $10 Million Settlement in CU Anschutz Case Over COVID Vaccine Mandate

By: John Ingold | The Colorado Sun

The University of Colorado Anschutz will pay more than $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by students and staff who sued in 2021 after being denied religious exemptions to the campus’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, according to a group that represented the plaintiffs.

CU Anschutz has also agreed to make policy changes, the Thomas More Society announced Monday. The group, which represents plaintiffs in religious liberty cases nationwide, called it one of the only cases in the country where plaintiffs have received money damages in a lawsuit over a COVID vaccination mandate.

The case involved 18 plaintiffs, whom Peter Breen, the Thomas More Society’s executive vice president and head of litigation, called heroes.

“They stood up, at great personal cost, to an injustice that never should have been inflicted on them — or on any American,” Breen said in a statement. “Because they had the courage to say ‘no’ when their religious freedoms were trampled, people of faith across the country now enjoy stronger protections.”

In a statement released Monday, CU Anschutz, which is home to the University of Colorado School of Medicine as well as UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and several other major medical and research facilities, stood by its decision to issue a vaccine mandate.

“This policy was grounded in science, public health guidance, and our obligation to safeguard lives during an unprecedented global crisis,” the university statement read. “While some chose to challenge the policy, the evidence remains clear: vaccination was essential to protecting the vulnerable, keeping hospitals open, and sustaining education and research.”

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