A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from Bandimere Speedway that sought to hold Jefferson County’s former public health director liable for his enforcement of COVID-19 protocols against the racetrack in the early months of the pandemic.

John Bandimere Jr. and Lorraine Bandimere, who own the speedway near Morrison, alleged Jeffco’s public health director in 2020, Mark B. Johnson, retaliated against them for exercising their First Amendment rights in opposition to COVID-19 mitigation policies that existed at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

But in a July 10 order, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang dismissed the lawsuit because the Bandimeres previously sued Johnson in state court – unsuccessfully – over the same public health directives. Under longstanding legal doctrine, Wang explained, a final court decision bars future judges from hearing lawsuits involving the same parties and the same set of facts.

“In other words, plaintiffs could have raised their current claims” in state court, she wrote, “but simply did not.”

Days before Bandimere Speedway was set to host a Fourth of July rally in 2020, Johnson wrote to John Bandimere expressing concerns that, based on the promotional information about the event, the speedway would not adhere to the capacity limit of 175 people per activity that was in effect at the time. Jeffco’s public health department then sought a court order requiring Bandimere to abide by the limitation, even though its track has a capacity of 23,500.

The county subsequently alleged the racetrack broke the rules despite the court order.

The Bandimeres then sued Johnson and multiple state officials, arguing various public health directives were issued illegally. In December 2021, Jefferson County District Court Judge Tamara S. Russell agreed to dismiss the case.

The COVID-19 restrictions “do not constitute, beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights,” she wrote.

Then the Bandimeres turned to the federal courts. They alleged Johnson’s decision to pursue a restraining order for the Fourth of July rally was prompted by John Bandimere’s comments on “Wake Up! with Randy Corporon,” in which he suggested on air that the speedway would not be restricting capacity at its events.

“Mr. Bandimere had a clearly established right to express opposition on the radio to Jefferson County PHO’s (public health orders),” wrote Corporon, who was also the lawyer representing the Bandimeres. “Dr. Johnson either knew, or should have known, that bringing enforcement proceedings against Bandimere Speedway in retaliation for Mr. Bandimere’s expression of his views in opposition to (Jeffco’s) PHOs on a radio show constituted a violation of his First Amendment rights.”

Wang, however, did not analyze whether the Bandimeres had credibly alleged a constitutional violation. Because the parties were the same as in the prior lawsuit, the evidence would largely be the same, and a state judge had already ruled on the events in question, Wang determined she could not proceed to hear the case.

The Bandimeres had a “full and fair opportunity to litigate the issues” in state court, she added.

The case is Bandimere Auto-Performance Center, Inc. et al. v. Johnson.