A GA pilot from San Francisco, who hid his HIV-positive status for years out of fear of losing his license, can sue the government for disclosing his condition during a fraud investigation, a federal appeals court ruled Feb. 22.
According to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, while a federal judge dismissed Stan Cooper’s damage suit in 2008, despite finding that the FAA and the Social Security Administration had violated his rights by sharing his confidential personal and medical records, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated the case, noting the law was intended to compensate people for harm they suffer when a federal agency intentionally discloses their confidential records.
