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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • November 21, 2025

    4th Circuit Will Not Revisit Md. Hospital Worker’s COVID Shot Termination Ruling

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will not revisit a panel’s decision to affirm the firing of a Maryland hospital employee over a refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine after she was denied a religious exemption in denying the employee’s request to apply Title VII standards mapped out in Groff v. DeJoy that arguably require proof that allowing her to work unvaccinated would have created a health risk.

  • November 20, 2025

    Government: No Concrete Harm From COVID Vaccination Recommendation Changes Shown

    BOSTON — Stating that none of the plaintiffs has demonstrated actual concrete injury and thus standing is lacking, the federal government on Nov. 19 moved to dismiss the third amended complaint of several physicians’ professional groups and three Jane Does in their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its secretary and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director seeking to set aside both the HHS’s replacement of the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women with “shared clinical decision making (SCDM)” and the appointment of new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

  • November 19, 2025

    Teacher’s Pandemic Speech Case Settled After Jury Award Partially Upheld

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut deemed a teacher’s lawsuit against a Connecticut school board and principal settled in a Nov. 18 docket entry following the approval of a settlement by the board for an amount not disclosed in court records; the settlement was reached after a renewed motion for judgment notwithstanding a jury verdict or for a new trial was partially granted following a jury’s $1.1 million award on the teacher’s claims that she was subjected to retaliation and defamation after making public comments and social media comments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • November 19, 2025

    Panel: Whether Immunity Applies To COVID-Era Hospital Death Is For Jury

    ATLANTA — Concluding that a fact finder could determine that a hospital and hospital personnel were not engaged in emergency management activities that would provide immunity for their conduct in the treatment of a man who did not have COVID-19 but presented to and died in a hospital during the pandemic, a Georgia appellate panel reversed grants of summary judgment by a trial court in favor of the hospital and personnel in a medical malpractice lawsuit brought by the man’s daughter.

  • November 19, 2025

    Judge: No Standing To Sue For Vaccine Injuries Via Declaratory Judgment

    MONROE, La. — Ruling that a declaratory judgment will not bind parties to future lawsuits and, thus, will not provide redressability, a Louisiana federal court dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by several people injured by the COVID-19 vaccine seeking a declaration that the immunity provisions of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act are unconstitutional so that they could sue vaccine manufacturers in tort.

  • November 18, 2025

    Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, 9th Circuit Affirms

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 17 affirmed a district court’s ruling that an all-risk policy’s contamination exclusion bars coverage for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the insureds’ argument that the district court erred in finding that a California appellate panel’s ruling in a similar case is applicable to the instant dispute.

  • November 18, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Lack Of Standing Ruling Denied In COVID Vaccine Injury Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied the motion to alter or amend judgment of a man seeking to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he can be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) after the judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing.

  • November 18, 2025

    Louisiana: Companies’ Crude Oil Conduct Not Tied To Federal Refining Contracts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil companies’ drilling for crude oil in Louisiana falls outside World War II-era oil refining authorized by the federal government and therefore does not create federal jurisdiction under the amended federal officer removal statute, the state and various local governments told the U.S. Supreme Court in a pair of respondent’s briefs in a case with close ties to asbestos litigation.

  • November 18, 2025

    Stipulation Filed To Dismiss 1 Insurer From Coronavirus Coverage Suit In Nevada

    LAS VEGAS — A stipulation was filed asking a Nevada court to dismiss with prejudice all claims against one insurer in an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage under its all-risk insurance policies for its loss caused by COVID-19 and its causative virus at its insured properties.

  • November 17, 2025

    Insured Seeks Rehearing In Unjust Enrichment, UCL Suit Against Travel Insurers

    PASEDENA, Calif. — An insured on Nov. 14 filed a petition for rehearing en banc asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider a panel majority ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of travel insurers in his unjust enrichment and unfair competition lawsuit, challenging the majority’s finding that he is not entitled to recover any portion of the premium for a travel insurance policy he purchased for a cruise that was later canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic because there was no unearned premium.

  • November 17, 2025

    Appeal Dropped By Agreement In Religious-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Case

    CHICAGO — Pursuant to a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a former employee’s appeal of an Illinois federal court ruling dismissing the employee’s lawsuit alleging that she was denied a religious accommodation for the employer’s mandatory vaccination policy in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, having deemed the employee’s objections to the COVID-19 vaccine medical rather than religious.

  • November 14, 2025

    Judge: Software Engineer With Long COVID Was Due LTD Benefits

    LOS ANGELES — After weighing the opinions of treating and reviewing physicians, a California federal judge concluded that a software engineer “was unable to perform the specific duties required by his job with reasonable continuity due to diagnosed symptoms of cognitive impairment, brain fog, and fatigue likely resulting from long-haul COVID-19” and therefore entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • November 14, 2025

    Parties File 9th Circuit Briefs In LTD Denial Appeal Involving Long COVID

    SAN FRANCISCO — Issues including assessing differing medical opinions and whether new reasons for denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits were improperly raised during a bench trial are disputed in Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals briefs in the case of a former underwriter who says he was disabled by cognitive impairments and other symptoms he attributes to long COVID.

  • November 13, 2025

    Government: Administrative Record Not Yet Needed In COVID Vaccination Schedule Row

    BOSTON — Arguing that the compilation of an administrative record would not be necessary should the court rule that the plaintiffs lack standing, the federal government in a Nov. 12 status report requested that it not be required by a Massachusetts federal court to compile the record for a lawsuit by several physicians’ professional groups and three Jane Does seeking to set aside the removal of the COVID-19 vaccination from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended immunization schedules for healthy children and pregnant women.

  • November 13, 2025

    Parties Settle In COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Religious Discrimination Case

    DENVER — 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 the employee’s refusal to be vaccinated for COVID-19 filed a notice of settlement on Nov. 12 indicating that they expect to file a stipulated motion to dismiss with prejudice on or before Dec. 15.

  • November 13, 2025

    Insurers’ Objections To Discovery Orders Substantially Overruled In COVID-19 Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York substantially overruled insurers’ objections to discovery orders that granted in part and denied in part a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s motion to compel the insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute.

  • November 12, 2025

    Judge Denies Transfer, Recusal Motion From Lab Accused Of FCA COVID Testing Fraud

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied a motion by a lab and related parties to transfer venue or for judicial recusal in qui tam suits alleging that they violated the federal False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims to government insurers for reimbursement for COVID-19 testing services, finding that the defendants failed to show the appearance of a personal bias required for recusal and that few federal courts “could have a stronger interest in the resolution of this dispute than the Southern District of New York.”

  • November 11, 2025

    Panel: New York Officials Had Qualified Immunity For COVID Nursing Home Orders

    NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a New York federal court that dismissed a lawsuit against New York state officials and nursing homes brought by survivors of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after state executive orders prevented nursing homes from denying admission to patients having or suspected of having COVID-19.

  • November 11, 2025

    High Court Denies Petitions From Workers Fired Over COVID-19 Vaccines, Protocols

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied multiple petitions filed by employees who were terminated from their positions for refusing to adhere to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and safety protocols, leaving stand appellate court rulings that dismissed their claims and granted summary judgment to their employers.

  • November 10, 2025

    High Court Will Review 5th Circuit’s Invalidation Of Postmarked Ballot Receipt Law

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 granted the petition for a writ of certiorari of Mississippi’s secretary of State, who seeks review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel decision striking down a COVID-era Mississippi state law providing that mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day may be received by the registrar within five days of Election Day and still be valid.

  • November 04, 2025

    Majority Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Travel Insurers In Unjust Enrichment, UCL Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — A majority of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of travel insurers in a plaintiff’s unjust enrichment and unfair competition lawsuit, holding that the insured is not entitled to recover any portion of the premium for a travel insurance policy he purchased for a cruise that was later canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic because there was no unearned premium.

  • November 04, 2025

    Ithaca College Pays $1.5M To Settle Students’ Pandemic Closure Class Suit

    BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Ithaca College (IC) will pay $1.5 million to end a student’s class complaint accusing the school of retaining tuition paid for campus-based in-person education and services that were not provided in spring 2020 when the school transitioned to remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a settlement agreement approved by a federal judge in New York.

  • November 03, 2025

    Hawaii Appeals Court Vacates Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    HONOLULU — The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals determined that a restaurant and bar owner insured established that there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether its business interruption was “caused by direct physical loss of or damage to property” at its insured premises and that its commercial insurer did not establish that any policy exclusion barred coverage, vacating a lower court’s judgment in favor of the insurer and remanding for further proceedings.

  • October 31, 2025

    Suit To Restore COVID-19 Vaccination Schedule Will Continue, Federal Judge Says

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Oct. 30 lifted the government shutdown-related stay of a lawsuit by several physicians’ professional groups and three Jane Does against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and several other federal officials and agencies seeking to set aside the HHS’s removal of the COVID-19 vaccination from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended immunization schedules for healthy children and pregnant women.

  • October 30, 2025

    Shutdown-Related Stay Sought In Suit For Pandemic Employee Retention Credits

    BALTIMORE — Citing the lapse of federal funding appropriations, the federal government on Oct. 29 moved a Maryland federal court for a stay that would be automatically lifted upon the enactment of an appropriations bill in a lawsuit by a Maryland beauty salon seeking a refund of employee retention credits it claims it earned under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economy Security (CARES) Act because of having suffered declines in gross receipts during the COVID-19 pandemic.