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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • 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.

  • April 22, 2025

    Former Employee Seeks Payment For Mandatory Pre-Shift COVID-19 Screening

    CHICAGO — A former employee filed a purported class action against his employer seeking to recover unpaid wages for mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screening during the pandemic under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL), the Illinois Wage and Payment Collection Act (IWPCA) and quantum meruit, contending that the time spent screening and awaiting screening was controlled by the employer and necessary to his job and, thus, compensable.

  • April 21, 2025

    Insured Seeks Coverage For More Than $50M In Losses Caused By Coronavirus

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A limited partnership that owns and operates shopping centers containing outlet stores sued its primary and excess insurers for declaratory relief and breach of contract in a North Carolina court, alleging that the lawsuit is “necessitated” by the insurers’ failure and refusal to indemnify it for “tens of millions of dollars in losses” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

  • April 21, 2025

    Resort Seeks Reduction In Fee Request After $133,000 Award To COVID Vaccine Refuser

    DETROIT — After a Michigan federal jury awarded $133,000 to a former employee of a resort, having determined that the resort failed to accommodate the employee’s religious beliefs that conflicted with getting the COVID-19 vaccine, the resort filed its response to the employee’s motion for $434,130 in attorney fees and costs, requesting that the court lower the award from the amount requested.