The panel declined to weigh in on whether Jones was ever told to falsify data, finding it immaterial to the case at hand.
Rebekah Jones’ three-year legal fight with the Department of Health (DOH) has reached its conclusion, and the former COVID dashboard manager is not the party walking away vindicated.
A three-Judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal has affirmed summary judgments ending a lawsuit Jones filed against the agency, finding she never made a disclosure protected under the state’s Whistle-blower’s Act and never spoke as a private citizen while publishing work on the dashboard that made her a national name in 2020.
Judges Joseph Lewis Jr., Ross Bilbrey and Thomas Winokur issued an opinion Wednesday upholding rulings in February 2025 by Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey, who sided with DOH and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and a separate judgment for former DOH Deputy Secretary Shamarial Roberson.
The court also denied Jones’ motion for attorneys fees.
Jones sued in March 2023, asserting the state fired her in violation of state whistleblower protections and that DOH, Ladapo and Roberson each ran afoul of federal civil rights protections for retaliating against her for exercising her First Amendment rights.
She sought reinstatement, back pay and damages. The panel found she could not clear the first hurdle on either of her claims.
To make a credible whistleblower claim, the court said, plaintiffs must show they made a protected disclosure before...
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through their joint Trade Fraud Task Force, recently published “A Resource Guide to Trade Fraud Enforcement”...