American Camp Association sues Rockland over measles measures

Rockland County is being challenged in court once again over how it's trying to protect residents from the measles.

News 12 Staff

Jul 2, 2019, 9:30 PM

Updated 1,987 days ago

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Rockland County is being challenged in court once again over how it's trying to protect residents from the measles.
This time, the American Camp Association is challenging rules put in place to protect kids and their counselors at camp.
The new lawsuit filed Monday is over the county's June order that camps turn over all names, vaccination records and contact information of campers and staff to county health officials.
“The list itself is information detailing the actual inside of the business. All the customers, all the clients, all the staff,” says Don Feerick, attorney for the American Camp Association.

Feerick says the county's new order requiring camps share their private customer information violates Fourth Amendment rights that protect against unlawful search and seizure.

“What they're protesting is not immunization. They're protesting the dissemination of private, sensitive, business information,” he says.

Feerick asked a judge at Federal District Court in White Plains Tuesday for a temporary restraining order on the county's demand for information. The judge denied that request.

County attorney Thomas Humbach says Rockland County isn't trying to steal anyone's business secrets, but simply wants to protect public health.

“It's the height of vanity to think that the county Health Department has an interest in the business dealings of these camp or has any interests in profiting off of getting these records,” he says.
The county and the American Camp Association have a week to try to come to some type of agreement on how they might move forward with the lawsuit.
Seventeen of the 67 camps in Rockland County are in the American Camp Association.