Lind Declaration

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    UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

    FOR THE DISTRICT OF MINNESTOA

    ANNEX MEDICAL, INC.; STUART LIND,

    and TOM JANAS

    Plaintiffs,

    v.

    KATHLEEN SEBELIUS,in her official

    capacity as Secretary of the United States

    Department of Health and Human Services;

    HILDA SOLIS,in her official capacity as

    Secretary of the United States Department ofLabor; TIMOTHY GEITHNER,in his official

    capacity as Secretary of the United States

    Department of the Treasury; UNITED STATES

    DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN

    SERVICES; UNITED STATES

    DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; and UNITED

    STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE

    TREASURY,

    Defendants.

    Civ. No. 12-cv-02804-DSD-SER

    DECLARATION OF

    STUART LIND

    Declaration of Stuart Lind

    I, Stuart Lind, make the following declaration from personal knowledge pursuant

    to 28 U.S.C. 1746:

    1. I am citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Minnesota.2. I am the founder and president of Annex Medical, Inc., a Minnesota

    corporation that designs and manufactures medical devices.

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    3. I am also the founder and president of Sacred Heart Medical, Inc., aMinnesota corporation that sells and markets medical devices manufactured by Annex

    Medical.

    4. I founded Annex Medical in the basement of my residential home in 1988.In 1989, Annex Medical moved into a commercial facility. In 2000, Annex Medical

    moved into its current facility, located at 6018 Blue Circle Drive, Minnetonka, Minnesota

    55343.

    5. Annex Medical was incorporated on September 18, 1988.6. Annex Medical has been a family-owned business since 1996. Its

    shareholders consist exclusively of family membersme and the estate of my recently

    deceased father, Dean Lind. I own 202,782 shares of Annex Medical stock, or

    approximately 96.5 percent of the shares, and the estate of Dean Lind owns the remaining

    7,208 shares.

    7. I am a devout Catholic and am steadfastly committed to following thereligious, ethical and moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

    8. I attend Holy Trinity Parish, where my pastor is Father John Echert.9. I sincerely believe and strive to adhere to Catholic teaching on the sanctity

    of life, including the belief that contraception, sterilization, abortion and use of

    abortifacient drugs are intrinsically evil and immoral because they are capable of

    preventing or destroying a human life. (See Verified Complaint (VC) 47-52.)

    10. I sincerely believe and strive to adhere to Catholic teaching on providingfor the physical needs of my employees. (VC 56-57.) Consistent with this teaching, I

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    sincerely believe I have a moral and religious duty to provide for the physical needs of

    my employees. As part of my commitment to fulfilling this duty, I provide a group health

    insurance plan for Annex Medicals employees and their families. I consider providing

    this group health plan to my employees to be an exercise of my sincerely-held religious

    beliefs.

    11. I strive to adhere to Catholic teaching in all aspects of my life, includingmy operation of Annex Medical.

    12. I personally wrote Annex Medicals mission statement to reflect mycommitment to adhere to Catholic teaching in the operation of my business. Annex

    Medicals mission statement reads

    The mission of Annex Medical, Inc. is to manufacture

    medical products of high quality and good value, while

    conducting business in a way that is pleasing to God and is

    faithful to Biblical principles and values. We will accomplish

    this mission from a Christian perspective that respects others

    who believe differently while sharing the joy we havereceived from Jesus Christ.

    13. In 2001, I officially and publicly consecrated Annex Medical and SacredHeart Medical to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a

    Roman Catholic ceremony recognizing the Kingship of Jesus Christ, in this case, over my

    business. This consecration is both a public profession of my faith and a formal

    commitment to operate my businesses in accordance with the teaching of Jesus Christ. A

    true and correct copy of the invitation to this consecration is attached as Exhibit A.

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    14. As president, I am the sole decision-maker for Annex Medical and SacredHeart Medical. My religious beliefs are thus reflected in my operation of these

    companies.

    15. When my businesses engage in or cooperate with activity that violatesCatholic teaching, I believe it is a violation of my own religious beliefs.

    16. Thus, when my businesses have engaged in or cooperate with activities thatviolate Catholic teaching, I have attempted, where possible, to cause them to cease such

    activity or cooperation with the same.

    17. For example, in 1998, I made a very difficult and costly business decisionbased on my belief that I must operate my businesses in accordance with my religious

    convictions. Annex Medical had developed and was successfully marketing a heart

    biopsy forceps. The forceps was used on patients who had received transplanted hearts.

    The heart donors were declared brain dead under certain criteria determined by the

    medical community. However, I became informed that the harvesting procedure of brain

    dead donors actually begins while the donors heart is beating and there is normal blood

    pressure and circulation. Some within the medical profession have concluded that this

    invalidates the determination that a donors life has ended. I believe that life is a

    fundamental right received from our Creator and that it is morally unacceptable to end

    prematurely the life of a dying person. Accordingly, I discontinued this promising

    product line so as to not be complicit with this morally unacceptable act.

    18. In 2002,I ended Annex Medicals 7-year relationship with AmericanExpress, which was facilitating Annex Medicals employee retirement plans, upon

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    learning that American Express contributes money to Planned Parenthood, a provider of

    abortion and abortion services. A true and correct copy of correspondence between me

    and American Express regarding this decision is attached as Exhibit B.

    19. I have also taken proactive steps to ensure that my businesses do notcooperate with activities I believe are sinful and immoral. For example, distributors and

    sales representatives that contract with Sacred Heart Medical to purchase and market

    products manufactured by Annex Medical must represent that they will at no time

    distribute or represent products that are labeled with indications for contraception,

    sterilization, abortion, pregnancy termination, or in vitro fertilization. True and correct

    copies of sales and distribution contracts containing such representations are attached as

    Exhibit C. The relevant provisions have been highlighted.

    20. From my pastors comments in our parish bulletin on August 12, 2012, Ibecame aware that the HHS Mandate went into effect earlier that month and that it had

    inspired a national controversy, including a legal challenge brought by Hercules

    Industries, a Colorado corporation, and its owners.

    21. Catholic teaching and my sincerely-held religious beliefs prohibit me fromintentionally participating in, paying for, facilitating access to, or otherwise cooperating

    with contraception, sterilization, abortifacient drugs, and related education and

    counseling.

    22. Upon learning that the HHS Mandate requires businesses to include theseitems in their group health plans, I contacted Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

    regarding Annex Medicals group health plan to ensure it did not provide coverage for

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    any products or services I believe are sinful and immoral, including those required by the

    HHS Mandate.

    23. During this examination, I discovered that, although it is not currentlysubject to the Mandate, Annex Medicals current group health plan provides coverage for

    abortions, abortifacient drugs, sterilization and contraception supplies and prescription

    medications. Thus,

    24. Coverage for these drugs and services was not included knowingly as to doso would be contrary to Catholic teaching and my sincerely-held religious beliefs.

    25. Because Annex Medicals group health plan is not currently subject to theMandate, these drugs and services are being provided at cost to the employee. Inevitably

    though, Annex Medical will be required to provide them at no cost to the employee when

    its group plan becomes subject to the Mandate on the date of its next schedule annual

    renewalJuly 1, 2013.

    26. As I have done previously in similar circumstances that were contrary tomy religious beliefs, I took steps to cease Annex Medicals cooperation with these drugs

    and services. I contacted Annex Medicals group health plan provider, Blue Cross and

    Blue Shield of Minnesota, to request that Annex Medicals group health plan be modified

    to exclude coverage for contraception, sterilization, abortifacient drugs and related

    education and counseling.

    27. Blue Cross informed me that Blue Cross did not permit Annex Medical tomodify its group health plan to omit such coverage because Blue Cross requires all group

    health plans issued to employers with fewer than 50 employees to include such coverage.

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    28. I then inquired with three other insurance issuers in Minnesota as towhether they could sell a group health plan to Annex Medical that excludes coverage for

    abortions, contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs.

    29. However, none of the issuers was able to offer such a group plan. I was toldby these issuers that the HHS Mandate requires them to provide HHS Mandate-compliant

    coverage in all group health plans they offer.

    30. The HHS Mandate has made it impossible for me to select a group healthplan that did not include coverage for products and services that the Catholic Church

    teaches are sinful and immoral.

    31. I then sought the advice of my pastor, Father Echert. Through severalconsultations and a meeting, Father Echert explained that since continuing to provide a

    group plan to Annex Medical employees that includes coverage of innate evils was

    contrary my conscience, it would be sinful for me to do so. If I could not exclude

    coverage for these products and services, he explained that I must discontinue Annex

    Medicals group plan in order to avoid this sin.

    32. As the HHS Mandate has made it impossible for me to purchase a grouphealth plan that excludes these products and services, I determined I must follow the

    spiritual advice of my pastor and discontinue Annex Medicals group health plan.

    33. On October 22, 2012, I held a company meeting at Annex Medical toinform my employees of my plan to seek judicial relief and, if none could be obtained, to

    discontinue their group health plan on January 31, 2013. A true and correct copy of the

    letter to my employees explaining my decision is attached as Exhibit D.

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    34. At this meeting, Father Echert gave a presentation during which heexplained in detail why the HHS Mandate was morally and religious problematic for me.

    35. Unless I receive relief from the court, I will be forced to terminate myemployees health insurance plan. This is problematic for me for several reasons. First, I

    sincerely believe my Catholic faith places a moral duty on me to provide for the physical

    needs of my employees. I provide health care for my employees as an exercise of this

    belief. If I must discontinue health care to avoid the sin of cooperation with the HHS

    Mandate, I will be prevented from exercising this belief. Second, I will expose Annex

    Medical to competitive disadvantages in that I will be unable to offer an important benefit

    to current and prospective employees. I am concerned this may make it more difficult to

    attract and retain quality employees. The majority of Annex Medicals production

    workers must fabricate delicate wire assemblies using a microscope. The wires in these

    assemblies are about the same thickness as a human hair, requiring my employees to have

    very fine finger dexterity. Minimum scores have been established using two standardized

    manual dexterity tests that help to predict a candidates ability to succeed in this work.

    My experience has shown that less than 25% of the candidates have been able to meet

    both minimum scores. In addition, more than half of those hired for this microscope work

    have been unable to complete the introduction period because the job was beyond their

    capability. The dexterity requirement has made obtaining workers difficult. I believe it

    will become even more difficult if we are prevented from offering health insurance

    benefits to the small pool of qualified applicants.

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    Exhibit ACASE 0:12-cv-02804-DSD-SER Document 13 Filed 11/23/12 Page 1 of 2

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    Exhibit A

    Exhibit A - 2

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    Exhibit B

    Exhibit B - 1

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    Exhibit B

    Exhibit B - 2

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    Exhibit B

    Exhibit B - 3

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 1

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    Exhibit CCASE 0:12-cv-02804-DSD-SER Document 13-2 Filed 11/23/12 Page 2 of 12

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 3

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 4

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 5

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 6

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 7

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 8

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 9

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 10

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 11

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    Exhibit C

    Exhibit C - 12

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    Exhibit DCASE 0:12-cv-02804-DSD-SER Document 13-3 Filed 11/23/12 Page 1 of 1