Feb. 1 Videoconference Set on Motion to Dismiss Challenge to Mass. Contact-Tracing App

U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni for Massachusetts in Springfield scheduled a hearing for Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. via videoconference on the state’s May 22 motion to dismiss the March 20 first amended complaint of six plaintiffs challenging the state’s COVID-19 contact-tracing app on constitutional grounds, said a text-only order Monday (docket 3:22-cv-11936). The plaintiffs allege that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health worked with Google to secretly install the app on more than a million Android smartphones in the state without the device owners’ knowledge or permission. Massachusetts contends the complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim and for lack of jurisdiction.