US health department asks Florida court to dismiss Havana syndrome lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction

Bloomberg Law reports that lawyers for the US federal government have asked the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida to dismiss a lawsuit over the government's alleged failure to respond to Havana syndrome, the symptom cluster first documented at the US embassy in Cuba in 2016 and attributed by some to pulsed microwave radiofrequency radiation. The government's first brief argues the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the plaintiffs have not identified a discrete or final agency action that can be reviewed, an argument that would end the case without a ruling on the claims themselves. The article is paywalled after three paragraphs, so the plaintiffs and the case number are not in the text available to us.

Update, 8 October 2026: After publication, Len Ber, MD notified us that the case is Ber v. CDC, No. 8:26-cv-01822 (M.D. Fla.), filed 23 June 2026 under the Administrative Procedure Act. We confirmed this in the public court record. The plaintiffs are seven individuals, Ber among them, together with the nonprofit Targeted Justice, Inc. The defendants are the CDC, the NIH and NIH director Jay Bhattacharya in his official capacity. Ber is a party to the case and medical director of Targeted Justice.

Public court docket, CourtListener

"Lawyers for the federal government said the court lacks jurisdiction to consider a lawsuit challenging its alleged lack of agency response on Havana Syndrome, a cluster of symptoms first documented at the US embassy in Cuba in 2016."

— Bloomberg Law

"Plaintiffs have not identified a discrete or final agency action required for judicial review and the case should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the government said in its first brief filed Monday to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida."

— Bloomberg Law

US health department asks Florida court to dismiss Havana syndrome lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction

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