A Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday upheld an order compelling former Oregon Governor Kate Brown to be deposed in a class-action lawsuit filed by prisoners, who claim the state unnecessarily exposed them to a high risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus, Courthouse News reports. Lawyers from Oregon’s Department of Justice had sought to block Brown's deposition. “No court in this circuit had ever ordered the deposition of a governor over official state decisions," they wrote. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman reasoned in her order that because Grown has now left office, “a brief deposition is less burdensome and will not distract from any official duties.”
The lawsuit was brought in April 2020 by six inmates held in Oregon Department of Corrections facilities and the representative of a deceased prisoner’s estate. “During the pendency of the lawsuit, thousands of people housed at ODOC facilities have been infected with Covid-19,” the inmates wrote. At least 44 inmates died, according to the suit. The litigants seek relief for two classes: one comprised of prisoners who contracted COVID-19 and another made up of those who died from the virus or COVID-related complications.
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