Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Coronavirus

  • September 12, 2024

    Rehearing Denied After 6th Circuit Reinstates Worker’s Pandemic Bias Claims

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in a one-page order denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Lampo Group LLC, the company of radio personality Dave Ramsey, after a panel partially reversed a trial court’s dismissal of claims by an employee who alleges that the company failed to take precautions against the spread of COVID-19 during the initial days of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • September 11, 2024

    Federal Contractor’s Suit Seeks Refund Of Over $3.5M In Employee Retention Credits

    BALTIMORE — A federal contractor has filed a lawsuit against the federal government seeking a tax refund of $3,568,706.52 in employee retention credits (ERC) that were authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for businesses suffering a significant decline in gross receipts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • September 11, 2024

    Penn State Agrees To $17M Class Settlement In Students’ Pandemic Closure Case

    PITTSBURGH — Students who accuse The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) of charging money for in-person education and on-campus access and services but failing to deliver them in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic reached a $17 million class settlement with the school and moved for preliminary approval of the deal in a Pennsylvania federal court.

  • September 10, 2024

    Suit Alleging Damaged Credit Despite COVID Accommodation Survives Motion To Dismiss

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge accepted in full the report and recommendations of a magistrate judge, granting in part and denying in part a motion of a credit reporting agency to dismiss the lawsuit brought by a borrower alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) after he received an accommodation on an auto loan during the COVID-19 pandemic and expected his account to be reported as current.

  • September 10, 2024

    Panel Refuses To Reconsider Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Suit Prompted By Pandemic

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals refused to reconsider its ruling that affirmed a federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insured in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • September 09, 2024

    Judge Grants Dismissal In Part In FCA Violation Suit Over COVID-19 Test Billing

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on Sept. 6 granted in part a motion to dismiss filed by a COVID-19 testing provider in a qui tam suit alleging False Claim Act (FCA) violations and violations of a similar New Jersey state law related to improper billing for COVID-19 tests, granting the motion because the provider is not an original source but denying it because the amended complaint satisfies the pleading standard and because “the claims are not barred by the” FCA limitations and are not unconstitutional.

  • September 09, 2024

    6th Circuit: Elevated Pleading Standard In COVID-19 Vaccine Case Was Erroneous

    CINCINNATI — A trial court’s dismissal of a worker’s claim that her employer failed to accommodate her religious beliefs when it came to refusing the COVID-19 vaccine wrongly employed the elevated pleading standing of requiring a prima face case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially reversing the ruling and remanding for further proceedings.

  • September 06, 2024

    Magistrate Judge Allows Rebuttal Witness, 2nd Report In COVID-19 Class Suit

    EUGENE, Ore. — An Oregon federal magistrate judge on Sept. 5 ruled that a rebuttal witness on ventilation systems can testify for state officials facing a class action from a group of inmates in Oregon prison who allege that they were subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when state officials failed to protect them from heightened exposure to COVID-19.

  • September 04, 2024

    Reconsideration Denied In Mortgage Borrowers’ Damaged Credit Rating Lawsuit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — In a lawsuit by mortgage borrowers alleging violations by their lender of the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Rosenthal Act that led to their credit score being damaged, a California federal judge on Sept. 3 denied the borrowers’ motion for consideration of his summary judgment grant that ruled that the lender was entitled to report the borrowers’ loan as past due after they entered into a repayment plan.

  • September 03, 2024

    5th Circuit Panel Refuses To Reconsider Dismissal Of $192M Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 30 per curiam order denied Texas’ largest nonprofit health system petition seeking rehearing en banc of a majority opinion that affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of its commercial property insurer in its lawsuit seeking coverage for $192 million in business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • September 03, 2024

    6th Circuit: No Bargaining Need For Nursing Home’s Pandemic Hiring, Pay Decisions

    CINCINNATI — A nursing home owner’s hiring and pay decisions in response to staffing shortages at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 were made due to exigent circumstances and did not require bargaining with the union representing two groups of employees, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially affirming and partially reversing a decision by the National Labor Relations Board.

  • September 03, 2024

    PPE Supplier Blames Delivery Failure On Impracticability, Resists Summary Judgment

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical equipment company against a health care product distributor and its CEO seeking the return of a $323,640 down payment for a shipment of nitrile gloves the company never received, the distributor responded to a letter motion by the company seeking leave to file a motion for summary judgment, stating that the record is “full of genuine disputes as to most of the facts” and that summary judgment would be “wildly inappropriate.”

  • September 03, 2024

    StubHub Pays $300K To Settle California Suit For Failure To Refund For COVID

    LOS ANGELES — The California Attorney General’s Office and StubHub Inc. filed a joint stipulation in California state court resolving the state’s claims that the ticket reselling website wrongly denied cash refunds to customers in violation of California consumer protection laws after it agreed to pay nearly $300,000 in civil penalties and previously paid roughly $20 million in cash refunds to customers.

  • August 30, 2024

    Lab Seeking COVID Test Reimbursement Allowed To Try To Establish ERISA Standing

    NEWARK, N.J. — A medical testing laboratory seeking reimbursement for COVID-19 testing from two insurers filed a second amended complaint after a New Jersey federal judge terminated the insurers’ motion dismiss, concluding that further amendment of the complaint could resolve a question of whether the laboratory has derivative standing under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

  • August 30, 2024

    Florida Deputy Sheriff Convicted For Fraudulent PPP Loan Appeals To 11th Circuit

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Broward County, Fla., deputy sheriff convicted on various criminal counts in connection with a fraudulent application for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and sentenced to four months imprisonment filed a notice of appeal on Aug. 29 to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Florida federal district court.

  • August 30, 2024

    Radio Personality’s Company Seeks Rehearing After Religious Bias Claims Reinstated

    CINCINNATI — Lampo Group LLC, the company of radio personality Dave Ramsey, filed a petition in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for rehearing en banc after a panel partially reversed a trial court’s dismissal of claims by an employee who alleges that the company failed to take precautions against the spread of COVID-19 during the initial days of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • August 29, 2024

    Florida Deputy Sheriff Gets 4 Months In Prison, Fine For Fraudulent PPP Loan

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge denied motions of a Broward County deputy sheriff for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial, granted her motion for a downward sentencing variance and sentenced her to four months in prison on four counts, to be served concurrently, and to pay a $4,000 fine after a jury found her guilty on all four counts charged in a March superseding indictment stemming from a fraudulent application for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan.

  • August 29, 2024

    Judge Dismisses Coverage Dispute Over $1M Settlement Of Canceled Music Festival

    AUSTIN, Texas — Two days after the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal, a federal judge in Texas on Aug. 28 dismissed an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $1 million class action settlement arising from the insured’s refusal to refund ticket sales for the South by Southwest festival that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • August 29, 2024

    $2 Million Class Settlement Reached In Catholic University Pandemic Closure Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A New York woman who sued Catholic University of America for failing to provide students with the full value of their education in spring 2020 when the school, like many others around the country, closed its campus due to the coronavirus pandemic filed a motion in a federal court in the District of Columbia seeking preliminary approval of a $2 million class settlement.

  • August 28, 2024

    California Judge Enters Judgment In Hotel Insureds’ Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A California judge entered an amended judgment on a jury’s special verdict in favor of a commercial property insurer in hotel insureds’ breach of contract lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic after the parties signed a confidential settlement agreement and successfully requested dismissal of the insureds’ appeal.

  • August 26, 2024

    Lender Opposes Reconsideration Of Summary Judgment Grant In Damaged Credit Case

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — In a lawsuit by mortgage borrowers alleging violations of the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Rosenthal Act that led to their credit score being damaged, a mortgage lender opposed a motion seeking reconsideration of a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment ruling that the lender was entitled to report the borrowers’ loan as past due after they entered into a repayment plan.

  • August 22, 2024

    Federal Government Seeks Ban Of Tax Preparers Who Filed $40M In False COVID Credits

    HOUSTON — The federal government has filed a complaint seeking to block two tax preparers and their associated tax preparation company from ever again being involved in tax preparation either by providing tax preparation services or having any relationship with any entity providing tax preparation services because the preparers allegedly filed tax returns claiming refunds for completely fabricated COVID-19 and other tax credits for their customers that amounted to more than $40 million.

  • August 21, 2024

    High Risk Of Developing Complications From COVID-19 Rendered Doctor Disabled

    SAN FRANCISCO — A disability insurer’s denial of a pediatrician’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was de novo wrong because the pediatrician’s high risk of exposure to COVID-19 and high risk of developing complications from the virus based on her underlying medical issues rendered her disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation, a California federal judge said in granting the pediatrician’s motion for judgment on the administrative record.

  • August 20, 2024

    Cabbie Who Quit Because Of COVID-19 Lack Of Fares May Collect CARES Act Benefits

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of a District of Columbia appeals court reversed the decision of an administrative law judge (ALJ) denying pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) benefits provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to a taxi driver who claimed benefits due to a sharp decline in fares during the COVID-19 pandemic that rendered him unable to pay for his taxi and equipment.

  • August 20, 2024

    Teacher Awarded $1.1M On Retaliation, Defamation Claims In Pandemic Speech Case

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut teacher who alleged that she was subjected to retaliation and defamation after making public comments regarding the need for a safety plan during the coronavirus pandemic and stating on social media that there had been an unreported case of COVID-19 in her school was awarded $1.1 million by a federal jury in her state.