Mealey's Coronavirus : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Coronavirus

May 14, 2025
Insurer Gets LTD Benefits Case Transferred To Different California Federal Court

SAN FRANCISCO — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit in which a claimant who says she has “disabling symptoms” of long COVID is challenging denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) and life insurance waiver of premium (LWOP) benefits will be transferred to a different federal court in California after a judge considered “deference owed to Plaintiff’s choice of forum, convenience, and the local interest in the case.”
May 13, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Ruling In Air, Space Force Members’ Vaccine Case

CINCINNATI — A trial court properly dismissed as moot a class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot the preliminary injunction previously issued in the case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 12 in an unpublished opinion.
May 13, 2025
Vaccine Refusal Discrimination Claim Restored Based On Recent Circuit Decision

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Acknowledging that her prior dismissal of a former employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim to the extent it was based on her “body-as-a-temple” religious belief could no longer stand in view of a recent decision of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a South Carolina federal judge granted the employee’s motion for partial reconsideration and restored that aspect of her claim of religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from her refusal to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as mandated by the employer.
May 12, 2025
Pennsylvania Court Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Suit Arising From Coronavirus

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of commercial property insurers in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, concluding that the insured failed to establish that it incurred “direct physical loss or damage to any of its properties” to trigger coverage.
May 09, 2025
Religious COVID-19 Vaccination Exemption Suit Dismissed Per Stipulation Of Parties

DETROIT — Pursuant to the stipulation of a health insurance company and a former employee who alleged that she was wrongly denied a religious exemption from the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, a Michigan federal judge on May 8 dismissed with prejudice the employee’s claims.
May 08, 2025
CFPB’s Allegations Against Credit Reporting Agency Largely Survive Dismissal Bid

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by a credit reporting agency in a lawsuit brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) alleging several violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) in dealing with consumer disputes of credit report information.
May 08, 2025
5th Circuit: Texas District Not Wrong To Fire Teacher Over Absence After COVID

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a Texas school district did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing a teacher who did not return to her classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic because of concerns about contracting the virus, citing failure to meet the burdens for proving the claims.
May 07, 2025
En Banc Rehearing Denied In Case Challenging NLRB Impasse, Terms Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Hood River Distillers Inc. after a split panel denied the employer’s petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the company alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
May 06, 2025
R.I. High Court Upholds Attorney Fees Award In Suit Over Open Meeting Access

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s ruling granting an individual $2,500 in attorney fees after the lower court determined that a fire district violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by holding a public meeting online and not allowing remote viewers to participate in real time.
May 05, 2025
Whether Parent’s Speech At School Board Meeting Was True Threat Is A Jury Question

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Finding that the question of whether a school parent’s statements at school board meetings were protected by the First Amendment was a question for the jury, an Iowa federal judge on May 2 denied a school district’s summary judgment motion in the parent’s lawsuit alleging that the school district deprived him of his First Amendment rights in banning him from attending school board meetings.
May 02, 2025
Stay Granted In Lawsuit Seeking Final Determination On PPP Loan Forgiveness

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a lawsuit by a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) recipient alleging wrongdoing on the part of the lender in arranging the loan and partly denying loan forgiveness and seeking a final determination on forgiveness from the Small Business Administration (SBA), a Texas federal court on May 1 granted the government’s motion for a 60-day stay to allow it to arrive at a final determination on the loan.
May 01, 2025
5th Circuit Denies Rehearing For Shriners Employees Fired Over Vaccine Refusal

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc that several Shriners Hospital for Children employees who were fired for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine filed seeking reconsideration of a ruling dismissing federal and state claims against their former employer.
May 01, 2025
Injunction Sought In Lawsuit To Stop Termination Of COVID-Related Federal Grants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of municipalities and a labor union on April 30 moved a Rhode Island federal court for a preliminary injunction after filing suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director alleging that the mass termination of federal grants that were a response to the COVID-19 pandemic is unlawful.
April 29, 2025
Magistrate Judge Rules On Discovery In EEOC, United HealthCare Vaccine Mandate Suit

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal magistrate judge in Ohio ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “work with” United HealthCare Services Inc. in narrowing down which details of a fired work-from-home employee’s medical records should be considered when they confer on outstanding discovery disputes in a lawsuit alleging that United violated the employee’s rights when it denied her a request for a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and terminated her.
April 29, 2025
COVID Glove Supplier Cross-Appeals After Court Affirms $100M Award In Its Favor

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A nitrile glove supplier on April 28 filed a notice of cross-appeal to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after an Arkansas federal court denied Walmart Inc.’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial in a case in which a jury awarded the supplier more than $100 million against Walmart for reneging on a promise to purchase millions of boxes of gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 29, 2025
Parties Agree To Dismiss; Challenge To $12M Verdict For Vaccine Refuser Dropped

DETROIT — The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice on April 28 in a case in which a Michigan federal jury awarded a former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
April 29, 2025
Municipalities Sue HHS, CDC To Stop Termination Of COVID-Related Federal Grants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of municipalities and a labor union filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director seeking an order declaring that the termination of grants that were a response to the COVID-19 pandemic is unlawful and vacating the termination of the grants.
April 29, 2025
Alaska Federal Judge Grants Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss COVID-19 Coverage Suit

ANCHORAGE, Ala. — Following the Alaska Supreme Court’s answers to two certified questions in a coronavirus coverage dispute, a federal judge in Alaska on April 28 entered judgment in favor of an insurer after granting its motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for loss of business income under the Communicable Disease Suspension of Operations provision in the insurance policy.
April 25, 2025
Texas High Court Grants Agreed Motion To Dismiss Insurer’s Petition For Review

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on April 25 granted a commercial property insurer and its insured’s agreed motion to dismiss the insurer’s petition seeking review of a lower court’s partial summary judgment order in a coronavirus coverage dispute, according to its orders pronounced.
April 25, 2025
Panel: City Robocalls Announcing Virtual Town Halls During COVID-19 Not Illegal

DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the judgment of a New Mexico federal court, which granted a city’s motion to dismiss in a lawsuit alleging that robocalls made by the city to inform residents that town hall meetings would be held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic were a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), ruling that the calls fall within the emergency purposes exception of the act.
April 25, 2025
ER Doctor Whose Suspension For Refusing COVID Vaccine Was Upheld Seeks Rehearing

PHILADELPHIA — An emergency room doctor on April 24 filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel opinion affirming the judgment of a Pennsylvania federal court, which granted summary judgment in favor of a hospital in the doctor’s lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) after the doctor was refused a religious exemption from a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and suspended.
April 24, 2025
PPP Loan Recipient Seeks Final Determination On Loan Forgiveness From SBA

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) recipient filed an amended complaint against its lender and the Small Business Administration (SBA) alleging wrongdoing on the part of the lender in arranging the loan and partly denying loan forgiveness and seeking a final determination on forgiveness from the SBA after the bank filed a motion to dismiss the company’s original complaint.
April 24, 2025
Distiller Seeks En Banc Rehearing After NLRB Impasse, Terms Ruling Is Enforced

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hood River Distillers Inc. filed a petition for a rehearing en banc after a split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied its petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the employer alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
April 24, 2025
Shriners Employees Fired Over Vaccine Ask 5th Circuit To Rehear Claims Dismissal

NEW ORLEANS — Several Shriners Hospital for Children employees who were fired for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine are asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider an earlier ruling dismissing federal and state claims against their former employer, arguing that the panel’s decision misapplied the law, violated the separation of powers doctrine and denied constitutional due process rights.
April 23, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Hear University Manager’s COVID-19 Vaccine Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a former University of Kentucky department manager after a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a summary judgment ruling for the university’s board of trustees in a dispute over a COVID-19 test-or-vaccinate policy.