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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • January 23, 2026

    11th Circuit Affirms Insurer Win In LTD ‘Active Employment’ Case

    ATLANTA — Concluding in an unpublished per curiam opinion that an insurer “had a reasonable basis” for concluding that a surgeon dropped below the number of working hours required for “active employment” early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer that denied long-term disability (LTD) benefits on the basis that a tremor he consulted a doctor about over that time constituted an excluded preexisting condition.

  • January 23, 2026

    Hospital Seeking $11.5M Refund For COVID Tax Credit Not Eligible, Government Says

    SPOKANE, Wash. — Stating that a hospital failed to allege facts establishing that it had experienced a partial suspension of its operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government moved a Washington federal court to dismiss the hospital’s complaint seeking payment of a tax refund of more than $11.5 million representing employee retention tax credits (ERCs) provided for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

  • January 23, 2026

    Government: Business Not Suspended During COVID-19, Not Entitled To Tax Credits

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Denying that its motion for judgment on the pleadings in an employer’s lawsuit seeking employee retention credits (ERCs) authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was based solely on IRS interpretational guidance, the federal government has filed a reply brief stating that its motion is grounded in basic statutory interpretation, under which the employer could not have been classified as having been suspended or shut down so as to make it eligible for ERCs.

  • January 22, 2026

    Manhattan College Settles Undergrads’ Pandemic Closure Suit For More Than $740,000

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $742,940 settlement to be paid by Manhattan College to end class action litigation by students who alleged that they were not properly reimbursed for tuition, fees and other costs after the campus closed and all classes switched to remote learning in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • January 21, 2026

    Colorado Supreme Court Partly Grants Certiorari In Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court on Jan. 20 partly granted a retirement communities owner insured’s petition seeking review of a Colorado appeals court majority’s opinion that partly reversed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • January 21, 2026

    Judge: Engineer Claiming COVID Vaccine Injury Is Due LTD Benefits

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — On de novo review, a California federal judge concluded that a mechanical engineer who said she was disabled by a COVID vaccine injury due to symptoms including fatigue and brain fog is entitled to retroactive long-term disability (LTD) benefits under the plan’s initial “regular occupation” standard.

  • January 20, 2026

    Doctor Groups Seek To Amend Complaint Based On Latest CDC Vaccine Recommendations

    BOSTON — Characterizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Jan. 5 reduction of its recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11 as a “drastic overhaul” effected “without following the evidentiary-driven, and legally required processes for issuing recommended vaccine schedules,” physicians’ professional groups and others moved Jan. 19 to file a fourth amended complaint to add allegations to their lawsuit seeking to set aside both the CDC’s earlier changes to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and the appointment of new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

  • January 16, 2026

    Pa. Federal Judge Upholds Denial Of LTD Benefits For River Pilot With Long COVID

    PHILADELPHIA — Saying he is “constrained by” the arbitrary and capricious standard of review, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Jan. 15 upheld denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a river pilot who was diagnosed with long COVID.

  • January 16, 2026

    Supreme Court Seeks State Response In COVID-19 Doctor Misinformation Policy Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 15 requested a response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by physicians and other entities that questioned the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opinion affirming the dismissal by a Washington federal court of the petitioners’ lawsuit alleging constitutional violations by the state in initiating disciplinary proceedings against the doctors for the publication of allegedly false views on COVID-19.

  • January 15, 2026

    Judge Dismisses COVID-19 Coverage Suit Brought By Owner Of Seattle Space Needle

    SEATTLE — Following the filing of a joint stipulation of dismissal, a Washington federal judge dismissed the owner and operator of the Space Needle in Seattle’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking to recoup the “millions of dollars in revenues” it lost when its business was interrupted because of the coronavirus pandemic (Space Needle LLC v. North American Elite Insurance Company, No. 21-00347, W.D. Wash.).

  • January 14, 2026

    Washington Federal Judge Trims Attorney Fees In Remanded ERISA Disability Case

    SEATTLE — Addressing an opposed request for attorney fees totaling $239,390 in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case involving long COVID that was remanded to the administrator for full consideration because of a “substantial” procedural error, a Washington federal judge on Jan. 13 reduced the hours and the blended hourly rate, concluding that the appropriate fee award in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case is $112,050.

  • January 14, 2026

    1st Circuit Agrees Ferry Authority Workers Won’t Succeed With Vaccine Claims

    BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a trial court properly denied a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction filed by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority who sued the authority and its director of Human Resources after requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied, finding that the employees did not establish that they were likely to succeed on the merits.

  • January 13, 2026

    Parties Dismiss Settled COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Religious Discrimination Case

    DENVER — Having previously notified a Colorado federal court of their intention to settle, the parties to a lawsuit by a former employee of a nursing facility alleging religious discrimination by her employer stemming from her termination as a result of her refusal to be vaccinated for COVID-19 filed a stipulated motion of dismissal with prejudice on Jan. 12.

  • January 12, 2026

    High Court Denies Cert In Case Blaming COVID Data Fraud For School Disenrollment

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from a former law student who alleged that his disenrollment from law school resulted from his refusal to be vaccinated pursuant to a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy that was implemented based on allegedly fraudulent data and contended that the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal of his suit by a Massachusetts federal court for lack of standing, did not conduct an “earnest” review of the case.

  • January 12, 2026

    N.C. Panel: Court Correctly Deemed Some COVID-Related Documents Properly Withheld

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A health research organization failed in its efforts to obtain certain documents withheld by a university in its response to a public records request, with a North Carolina Appeals Court panel ruling that a trial court correctly found that the documents were exempt from production under the North Carolina Public Records Act (PRA).

  • January 09, 2026

    Man Seeking To Add COVID Vaccine To Vaccine Injury Table Appeals Standing Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man who sought an order forcing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he could be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) filed a notice of appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 8 after a District of Columbia federal judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing, having found that an act of Congress was a necessary step to adding a vaccine to the VIT.

  • January 07, 2026

    Judge: Doctor Groups Have Standing To Contest CDC Vaccine Recommendation Changes

    BOSTON — Concluding that physicians’ professional groups have sufficiently pleaded that they have been required to “devote significant time and resources” to counseling their members in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women so as to confer standing, a Massachusetts federal judge on Jan. 6 denied the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the groups and three Jane Does seeking to set aside both the CDC’s vaccine recommendation changes and the appointment of new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

  • January 07, 2026

    Small Business Denied CARES Act Relief Seeks High Court Review Of SBA Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A small business seeking COVID-19-related relief payments for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel decision affirming the judgment of a Virginia federal court, which granted the SBA’s summary judgment motion in the business’s lawsuit alleging that the agency’s denial of relief payments violated the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and violated due process.

  • January 07, 2026

    Employees Fired For Refusing COVID Shot Appeal Dismissal Of Medical Rights Case

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Former employees of a university hospital appealed to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of the judgment of a Connecticut federal judge, who granted the hospital’s motion to dismiss the employees’ second amended complaint alleging violations of their constitutional rights to “bodily autonomy, medical privacy and equal protection” caused by the health system’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy and seeking damages under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code.

  • January 06, 2026

    Fired Employee Who Refused COVID Vaccine Asks Judge To Reconsider New Trial Grant

    CHICAGO — A former transit authority employee who was awarded $425,000 by a jury — statutorily reduced to $300,000 — for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 moved for reconsideration of an Illinois federal judge’s grant of a new trial, which the judge ordered after determining that he had erred in failing to include a mixed-motive jury instruction on the issue of the transit authority’s motivation for terminating the employee.

  • January 06, 2026

    School COVID-19 Policy Critic Seeks Supreme Court Review Of Free Speech Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A school parent who criticized a Michigan school district’s COVID-19 policy has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, seeking review of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming a Michigan federal district court judgment that school officials’ communications to her employer and the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding her criticism did not constitute adverse actions in violation of her free speech rights given that she was unaware of the communications and continued to direct criticism at the school district.

  • December 23, 2025

    New Trial Granted In Chicago Transit Authority Vaccine Refusal Firing Case

    CHICAGO — Concluding that it had erred in failing to include a mixed-motive jury instruction, an Illinois federal court on Dec. 22 denied a municipal transit authority’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) but granted its alternate motion for a new trial after a jury awarded a former transit authority employee $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption.

  • December 22, 2025

    Ky. High Court: Fact Issue Exists Concerning Whether COVID Immunity Law Applies

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — Finding that evidence of gross negligence in the treatment of a nursing home resident who died during the pandemic that would nullify immunity under the Kentucky COVID-19 immunity statute had been alleged sufficient to create a question of material fact, a split Kentucky Supreme Court reversed the judgment of a state appellate court upholding a trial court grant of summary judgment in favor of a nursing home and staff members.

  • December 22, 2025

    Dietitian Can Testify In Negligence Case On Nutritional Need Standards

    BILLINGS, Mont. — A dietitian retained by the estates of residents who died while at an assisted living facility can testify on how assisted living facilities should monitor residents' nutritional status and needs, a Montana federal judge held, rejecting the facility’s efforts to exclude her testimony.

  • December 19, 2025

    Parties Seek Additional Stay In Suit To Block Ending Of COVID-Related Grants

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge via a text order docket entry granted a joint motion by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and several states for a stay and ordered the parties to submit a status report by Jan. 30 in the states’ lawsuit seeking to block HHS from enforcing a March 24 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended.