Kansas court ruling keeps law allowing COVID lawsuits alive

By JOHN HANNA and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is keeping intact a law that allows people to sue counties over mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions and obtain quick trial-court decisions. The court declined Friday to consider whether it’s constitutional for a state law to require judges to rule on such lawsuits within 10 days. It concluded that a Johnson County judge had no business striking down the law in a case that dealt with another legal question. Judge David Hauber’s decision against the law applying to counties was in a lawsuit against a school district’s mask mandate. School districts were covered by another law that’s since expired.