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Mealey's Coronavirus

April 10, 2024
9th Circuit Partly Reverses Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 9 held that a lower federal court properly granted insurers’ motion to dismiss all claims in a coronavirus coverage dispute that include the triggering language “direct physical loss or damage” to restaurant and hotel insureds’ properties but reversed the lower court’s denial of leave to amend a claim under the Crisis Event provision, which, the panel noted, does not include any language regarding “direct physical loss or damage.”
April 10, 2024
Consent Judgment OK’d After Summary Judgment Ruling In COVID-Testing Leave Case

GREENVILLE, Miss. — A federal judge in Mississippi approved a consent judgment between the acting secretary of Labor and a cleaning company that will provide back pay and compensatory and liquidated damages to two workers terminated while on leave from work awaiting COVID-19 test results.
April 09, 2024
Insurer Seeks Rehearing In Dispute Over $1M Settlement Of Canceled Music Festival

NEW ORLEANS — An insurer filed a petition asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its reversal of a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in its favor in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $1 million class action settlement arising from its refusal to refund ticket sales for the South by Southwest festival that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging the panel’s finding that the policy’s contract and professional services exclusions do not bar coverage.
April 08, 2024
Driver Appeals Grant Of Summary Judgment On UCL Claim For ‘Unfair’ COVID Premiums

SAN FRANCISCO — A driver on April 5 appealed to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of GEICO after finding that it did not violate California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by unfairly profiting from a premium giveback program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 04, 2024
Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Abuse Of Discretion, Judge Says

ST. LOUIS — A disability plan’s termination of a claimant’s long-term disability benefits was not an abuse of discretion because the decision was reasonable based on the objective medical evidence, a Missouri federal judge said in partially granting the plan’s motion for summary judgment.
April 04, 2024
United Customers Denied Class Certification In Pandemic Flight Cancellation Case

CHICAGO — Certification of a class of United Airlines Inc. customers who sued for refunds rather than credits for travel canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic is inappropriate based on the necessary “individualized factual inquiries as to each class member’s itinerary, which could include over 200,000 such inquiries,” a federal judge in Illinois ruled in an opinion that also denied a motion to exclude expert testimony relevant to class certification and instructed parties to file a joint status report concerning a pending motion for summary judgment.
April 03, 2024
Challenge To California Doctor COVID Misinformation Statute Rendered Moot By Repeal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In related lawsuits by California physicians claiming that a state statute allowing medical boards to discipline physicians for disseminating misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutionally vague, a California federal judge on April 2 granted state officials’ consolidated motion to dismiss both cases, finding that the repeal of the statute rendered the controversy moot.
April 03, 2024
Connecticut Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Tribe’s Coronavirus Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals court on April 2 affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in an Indian tribe’s declaratory judgment lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the tribe’s contention that the lower court improperly determined that the policy’s contamination exclusion applied to bar the majority of its coverage.
April 03, 2024
Rehearing Sought After 1st Circuit Finds Mass. Law Bars Pandemic Closure Suit

BOSTON — Students who brought a class complaint against the trustees of Boston University (BU) for allegedly breaching the promise of in-person instruction and services after the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic filed a petition for panel or en banc rehearing after the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the retroactive application of a Massachusetts law signed into effect in August 2022 that bars such lawsuits does not violate the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
April 02, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Unemployment Denial After Vaccine-Related Firing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 1 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a worker challenging the denial of unemployment benefits after she was terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
April 01, 2024
Washington Judge Certifies 2 Questions In University’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

SEATTLE — A Washington judge granted in part an insurer’s motion to certify issues to the Washington Court of Appeals for discretionary review in the University of Washington’s lawsuit seeking coverage for losses incurred by its medical and athletic properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staying the lawsuit pending resolution of the two controlling questions of law to determine whether commercial property insurance policies insure business income losses that are related to a pandemic.
April 01, 2024
Federal Government Tells U.S. High Court Military Chaplains’ Vaccine Case Is Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over an appeal by military chaplains challenging the denial of their requests for religious accommodation from a requirement that they be vaccinated against COVID-19, the secretary of Defense and other federal government officials argue in a response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the chaplains.
March 29, 2024
Judge Accepts Officials’ Plea Agreements In Veterans Home COVID-19 Death Cases

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A former superintendent and a former medical director of a veterans home entered plea agreements in a Massachusetts state court for their roles in commingling COVID-19-symptomatic residents with asymptomatic residents, leading to 76 deaths, admitting that the charges against them sufficed to make a finding of guilt while agreeing to satisfy court-imposed conditions for three months.
March 29, 2024
Insurer Defends Motion Seeking Appellate Review Of COVID-19 Coverage Dispute

SEATTLE — Replying to the University of Washington’s opposition to its motion to certify issues to the Washington Court of Appeals for discretionary review and to stay the university’s lawsuit seeking coverage for losses incurred by its medical and athletic properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an insurer argues that it is not seeking to delay the case but just wants “clear guidance” on the threshold legal question of whether commercial property insurance policies insure business income losses that are related to a pandemic.
March 29, 2024
7th Circuit: Crescent Plaza, Sandy Point Dental Foreclose Rome Hotel Owner’s Appeal

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that its decisions in Crescent Plaza Hotel Owner, L.P. v. Zurich American Insurance Co. and Sandy Point Dental, P.C. v. Cincinnati Insurance Co. foreclose arguments by the owner of luxury hotel in Rome seeking coverage for its lost business income and extra expenses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 27, 2024
SBA, Real Estate Developer Claiming Improper Denial Of PPP Loan Forgiveness Settle

HOUSTON — A real estate developer that sued the Small Business Administration (SBA) and various federal government entities contending that the agency improperly applied rules to deny the developer forgiveness for a Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on March 26, indicating that parties had reached a resolution of the dispute.
March 26, 2024
9th Circuit: Investor Does Not Allege Scienter In COVID-19 ‘Cure’ Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — A panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 25 upheld the dismissal of putative class complaint in which an investor claimed that a pharmaceutical company and certain of its executives misled investors by claiming that a COVID-19 treatment was a “cure,” with the panel finding that the investor did not adequately allege a strong inference of scienter.
March 25, 2024
Parties Stipulate To Dismissal Of Contract Dispute Over Sale Of COVID-19 PPE

WICHITA, Kan. — In a lawsuit brought by a customer alleging breach of a contract to purchase nitrile gloves and misrepresentation by a personal protective equipment seller, the parties on March 22 filed a stipulation of dismissal and the case was terminated via a docket entry by a Kansas federal court.
March 25, 2024
FDA And Doctors Complaining That FDA’s Ivermectin Tweets Were Ultra Vires Settle

GALVESTON, Texas — In a lawsuit by a group of doctors claiming that the Food and Drug Administration exceeded its statutory authority when it created social media and government website posts recommending that people not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19, a Texas federal judge on March 22 dismissed the case with prejudice pursuant to the stipulation of dismissal filed by the parties.
March 25, 2024
Panel Reverses Court In Coverage Suit Over $1M Settlement Of Canceled Music Festival

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $1 million class action settlement arising from its refusal to refund ticket sales for the South by Southwest festival that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the policy’s contact and professional services exclusion do not bar coverage.
March 25, 2024
Judge Grants Summary Judgment On Driver’s UCL Claim For ‘Unfair’ COVID Premiums

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted GEICO’s motion for summary judgment on an insured’s claim against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by unfairly profiting from a premium giveback program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part citing evidence that state insurance regulators deemed GEICO’s givebacks sufficient.
March 25, 2024
Judge: Maskless Patient Denied Treatment Fails To Adequately State ADA Claim

PORTLAND, Ore. — In a lawsuit by a former medical clinic patient against the clinic and some of its staff members alleging that their denial of treatment because of his refusal to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic was in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an Oregon federal judge on March 22 granted a motion by the individual defendants and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, concluding that the patient failed to adequately state a claim under the ADA.
March 25, 2024
1st Circuit: 2023 Mass. Law Bars 2020 Suit Over University’s Pandemic Closure

BOSTON — The retroactive application of a Massachusetts law signed into effect in August 2022 that bars actions for damages and equitable monetary relief against institutions of higher education for acts or omissions in response to the coronavirus pandemic does not violate the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s summary judgment ruling in a class complaint by students against Boston University (BU).
March 22, 2024
6th Circuit Largely Upholds Dismissal Of Vaccine Religious Exemption Claims

CINCINNATI — Putative class claims by 46 hospital workers whose requests for religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were largely properly dismissed by a trial court as 44 of the 46 workers failed to establish standing, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing only as to two workers who sufficiently alleged that they resigned after their requests were denied but before the hospital reversed its decision.
March 21, 2024
Panel Reverses ‘Rare’ Case Where Diner Has Alleged Direct Physical Loss, Damage

SAN DIEGO — A California appeals panel held that a diner insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its business losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic is “one of those rare cases” where the insured has adequately asserted a direct physical loss or damage under its commercial property insurance policy “at least raising the specter of coverage,” reversing a lower court’s judgment in favor of the insurer and remanding.