A Seattle woman is taking legal action against the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, renowned for their flight demonstrations, claiming she was unjustly blocked from commenting on their Instagram to object about the noise from their aerial displays. She alleges this noise amounted to “state-sanctioned acoustic torture” that distressed her cat in its final days.
Lauren Ann Lombardi initiated a federal lawsuit on July 21, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated by the Blue Angels. The suit names Navy Commander Adam Bryan, L. Ben Bushong, the Blue Angels’ public affairs officer, and an anonymous social media administrator for the squadron as defendants.
The lawsuit highlights that the Blue Angels conduct performances in the Seattle region near Puget Sound every August, utilizing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jets. These jets, described as being as subtle as a military occupation, can achieve speeds over 700 mph, resulting in extremely high decibel levels.
An image of Layla, the late cat owned by Lauren Ann Lombardi, who is suing the Navy’s Blue Angels. (Getty Images; U.S. District Court of Washington)
She also left multiple comments on the Blue Angels’ Instagram posts or tagged their handle on other accounts’ posts where she directed users to sign a Change.org petition, “We All Want to Feel Safe: No More Blue Angels Over Seattle.”
When she was blocked from the Blue Angels account Aug. 5, 2023, Lombardi sent the group a direct message calling them “cowards.” The message was never delivered because she was blocked.
Lombardi said her cat suffered in her final days because of the aerial performances.
“Whatever bandwidth Layla’s walnut-sized brain could previously gorge upon had been narrowed to a single overwhelming frequency: pure debilitating terror,” the lawsuit states.
“Every August was good until then, but no August would ever be the same again. Layla’s condition continued to deteriorate and she left home again, for the final time. She spent her last week fighting for her life in a specialty hospital before being humanely euthanized on August 11, 2024, surrounded by her inconsolably grieving family. Layla’s final days on Earth were marred by sadistic suffering — cowering in terror beneath furniture while her ailing heart struggled against the Blue Angels’ relentless noise pollution. Layla died knowing only fear when she should have known only love.”
The lawsuit noted that Lombardi respects and supports the U.S. military and that her criticism of the Blue Angels was focused on the “environmental and Constitutional harms caused by their demonstration practices and subsequent censorship activities.”
She is asking a judge to force the Blue Angels to unblock her from the Instagram account, to order the defendants named in the lawsuit to take remedial First Amendment training and to award her the cost of attorney’s fees.
A spokesperson for the Blue Angels told Fox News Digital the squadron doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
