Left: Blue Angels perform in 2023 (U.S. Navy). Right: Layla the cat (Lauren Ann Lombardi).
A Washington state woman filed a lawsuit against the Blue Angels, alleging the flight exhibition team violated her First Amendment rights when it “silenced” her by blocking her on social media following complaints about how noise from the show had harmed her dying cat.
Lauren Ann Lombardi filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Navy Cmdr. Adam Brayan, who leads the Angels, Lt. Ben Bushong, its public affairs officer and an unnamed social media administrator.
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The suit accuses the Blue Angels of contributing to the death of her cat, Layla. The introduction actually refers to the cat as Lombardi”s daughter.
This is the story of a heart-wrenching emotional loss needlessly compounded by unapologetic Constitutional violations. When a beloved family member was terrorized by the United States Navy’s Blue Angels, an American citizen exercised her Constitutional right to criticize her government’s role in her daughter’s suffering. In response, a cadre of emotionally fragile snowflakes masquerading as naval officers chose the coward’s path: they silenced this citizen’s speech, violated their oath to the Constitution, and brought disgrace upon the uniform they claim to honor.
It goes on to say that Layla — dubbed “the greatest cat who ever lived” — died following the next year’s show “after enduring yet another sonic assault during her final days on Earth.” Each August, the Angels descend on Puget Sound for their aerial show with 130 decibel sound levels, which is “louder than a jackhammer at close range and sufficient to cause immediate hearing damage,” the lawsuit alleged.
Lombardi fired off messages to the Angels’ social media pages in 2023 to complain about the effect it had on Layla, an elderly cat who she claimed suffered from heart disease.
She left multiple comments on Blue Angels’ social media posts and tagged their handle on other accounts’ posts asking users to sign a petition titled “We All Want to Feel Safe: No More Blue Angels Over Seattle.”
Lombardi also sent a series of direct messages to the account, which were a bit more colorful.
“Stop with your F—ing bulls— you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. F— off,” she wrote.
Another message said: “Nobody gives a f— about your stupid little planes.”
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The Angels responded by blocking Lombardi on Instagram, the lawsuit claims. Lombardi did not violate Instagram’s terms of service, the attorneys noted.
“As a result of the blocking, Plaintiff suffered immediate and ongoing Constitutional harm: she was prevented from communicating with the Blue Angels, receiving information from their account, viewing public discourse on their page, and having others see her Constitutionally protected criticism of government actions,” her attorneys wrote.
Plaintiff lawyers are asking for a judge to rule that the blocking of Lombardi on social media by the Angels is “unconstitutional.” It also requests an injunction to unblock Lombardi and have the Angels’ members “take remedial training on the fundamental importance of the First Amendment which the brave men and women of the U.S. Navy are sworn to protect.”
A representative from the Blue Angels did not immediately return a message from Law&Crime seeking comment.
