By Celeste Bott

Law360 (April 16, 2020, 4:54 PM EDT) -- The largest maker of N95 face masks is suing over the resale of its protective equipment at drastically inflated prices, recreational pot and gun shops say they have wrongfully been deemed "nonessential" during the pandemic, and Facebook and LinkedIn have been accused of harvesting personal information from the growing number of people using Zoom's videoconferencing software to work and study from home.

While courts across the country are altering procedures, restricting access and postponing certain cases to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the outbreak has also prompted a wave of new litigation across the country.

Here's a breakdown of some of the COVID-19-related cases from the past week.

Public Policy

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday shot down a lawsuit challenging Gov. Tom Wolf's authority under state law to order "non-life-sustaining" businesses to shut down on an emergency basis to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The state's high court rejected arguments that Wolf's sweeping order last month requiring the closure of nonessential businesses exceeded the scope of his police powers.

Wolf isn't the only governor facing litigation over orders closing businesses amid the pandemic. On Tuesday, Massachusetts residents and gun stores asked a federal court to reverse Gov. Charlie Baker's decision to shutter firearm shops during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the move violates the Second Amendment by barring legal avenues to obtain guns.

Their request mirrors similar legal battles underway in California, North Carolina and New Jersey, where other public health orders have closed stores or halted the issuance of new firearm permits.

Hospitality

Vail Resorts Management Co. is refusing to refund skiers' pass holder fees even though it closed all of its mountain resorts indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, a skier told a California federal court, slamming the move as "unconscionable" as the economy tanks as well as a violation of California consumer protection laws.

Vail Resorts operates more than 30 ski resorts across the U.S. and offers "Epic Passes" for unlimited skiing that cost anywhere from $67 for a day to $979 for the year, according to the putative class action lodged by California resident and pass holder Brian Hunt.

On March 25, Vail Resorts announced it was closing all of its mountain resorts for the rest of the 2019-2020 winter ski season. However, it has no plans to refund any consumers for their lost mountain resort access or allow them to transfer passes to another ski season, Hunt says in his suit.

Meanwhile, cruise lines continue to face coronavirus litigation, with Celebrity Cruises as the latest to be sued by a crew member who contracted COVID-19 and says the company failed to take appropriate measures to protect thousands of workers on its ships.

Alexandra Nedeltcheva, who works on the new Celebrity Apex that was set to begin sailing the Mediterranean this summer, says in a proposed class action filed Tuesday that the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. subsidiary failed to heed warnings about how quickly the coronavirus could spread on cruise ships, and when measures were taken to protect passengers' safety, crew members were still ordered to continue operations as normal.

Insurance

Joining a growing number of restaurants and other businesses petitioning courts for insurance coverage for COVID-19-related losses, shoe designer Marc Fisher Footwear LLC and a slew of associated companies have sued a unit of The Hartford in California state court.

They say in a complaint filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court on Monday that the insurer has wrongfully failed to cover tens of millions of dollars in losses they have suffered since coronavirus-related closures brought their business to a grinding halt. Fisher and 22 related companies claimed that Hartford Fire Insurance Co. has ignored their pleas for coverage of lost income, payroll expenses and other losses under a multipronged business insurance policy that offers up to about $40.6 million in benefits.

Transportation

Southwest Airlines is the latest airline to face a lawsuit over flight cancellations and the alleged failure to provide refunds as COVID-19 and travel restrictions aimed at reducing its spread caused demand for air travel to crater.

Southwest should have offered full refunds, not just new bookings and travel credit, for passengers whose flights were canceled as demand plummeted because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

Two similar proposed class action suits were filed in the Northern District of Illinois against United Airlines and Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris earlier in April.

Environment

The Natural Resources Defense Council and partners sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday over the agency's recently announced nonenforcement policy, which allows companies to use COVID-19 as a reason to stop monitoring and reporting pollution — without notifying the public.

And on Wednesday, a community of predominantly Mexican and Mexican-American residents in Little Village, Illinois, claimed in a proposed class action that they fell victim to "environmental injustice" when a group of companies ignored demolition safety protocols and let a plume of toxic dust coat their property when they tore down an old coal plant smokestack.

The residents say the plume has diminished their property values and put their health at even greater risk amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"What happened last weekend in Little Village would be unconscionable in normal times," said Steve Art of Loevy & Loevy, one of the attorneys in the suit, in a statement. "Burying a neighborhood in a toxic dust cloud during a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus — on Easter weekend when many residents were outdoors — leaves us at a loss for words."

Cannabis

Recreational cannabis dispensaries have filed an emergency action challenging Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's decision to classify adult-use marijuana shops as "nonessential" businesses while keeping both medical marijuana and liquor stores open, saying the shutdown is harming both businesses and public health.

Baker is unfairly discriminating against recreational marijuana dispensaries by ordering them closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry attorney argued Tuesday to the state Superior Court, comparing the shops to same-sex couples in the state who successfully sued for their right to marry in 2003.

In Montana, a group backing a ballot measure to legalize and tax cannabis has asked a state court to allow the campaign to gather online signatures amid the novel coronavirus.

Banking

A group of small businesses is appealing a Maryland federal judge's decision to allow Bank of America to continue turning away certain customers seeking loans under the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, and has asked for an emergency injunction while their fight goes to the Fourth Circuit.

The businesses, which say Bank of America has prevented them from accessing the federal coronavirus relief loan program, filed court papers on Tuesday to formally initiate an appeal after U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled Monday that she would not force the bank to suspend restrictions it has put on which applicants it will consider for the government-backed loans.

In that ruling, Judge Gallagher shot down a temporary restraining order that the businesses had sought as part of a proposed class action challenging those restrictions, under which a small business can apply for a PPP loan from the bank only if it's a Bank of America checking customer and either already borrows from the bank or is not a borrower at another bank.

Trademark

The largest American producer of the N95 protective face masks — which are in high demand by health workers — has begun companies to court for price-gouging, saying they are reselling their masks at dramatically higher prices.

3M Co. claims in a California federal lawsuit that Utah-based Rx2Live LLC tried to sell millions of the masks to Community Medical Centers Inc. in Fresno, California, at a "grossly inflated" price that was about four to five times greater than the list price.

It's also launched a suit against Performance Supply LLC, claiming in Manhattan federal court that the New Jersey company offered to sell millions of 3M-brand masks to New York City at a cost of more than 500% the actual price.

Privacy

Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. have been secretly harvesting personal information from Zoom users to boost their revenues, according to a putative class action filed in California federal court Monday that targets both the social media sites and the newly ubiquitous videoconferencing platform.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. — whose popularity has exploded since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic — is already facing several lawsuits brought by users and shareholders during the past month that accuse the company of unlawfully sharing personal data with third parties such as Facebook and of misrepresenting the nature of its privacy and data security practices.

The newly filed lawsuit echoes many of these allegations against Zoom, while also drawing in social media giants Facebook and LinkedIn, which plaintiff Todd Hurvitz claims "eavesdropped" on what Zoom users thought were private communications between them and the company's servers in order to scoop up valuable personal information.

Media and Entertainment

Six Flags Magic Mountain continues to charge its season pass holders monthly membership fees despite the park's closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, a pass holder said in a California federal court putative class action.

Shahriyar Rezai-Hariri accused Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. and Magic Mountain LLC of breaching its contract, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and violating a string of state business laws for continuing to charge his credit card while not allowing him access to the Southern California theme park.

And would-be attendees of an electronic dance music festival scheduled for May say in two putative class actions filed in California federal court Tuesday that the company behind the event — which has now been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — has declined to refund ticket fees.

One lawsuit filed by lead plaintiff Yesenia Jimenez claims Do Lab Inc. has collected between $8 million and $10 million in ticket sales for the 2020 event and "unjustly enriched itself by retaining the ticket fees of thousands of consumers while simultaneously canceling its festival in its entirety." The company informed ticket buyers in March that the show was canceled and there would be no refunds, although in an email the company promised to make 2020 ticket holders "whole" in the coming years at future festivals, according to the lawsuits.

Employment

A recent U.S. Department of Labor rule "unlawfully narrows" the number of people who are covered by the emergency paid leave law that Congress enacted to help workers get through the novel coronavirus pandemic, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a lawsuit Tuesday.

James argued in her New York federal court complaint that portions of a rule issued by the DOL on April 1 that fleshed out various aspects of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act violate the statute, which Congress passed last month to help workers affected by COVID-19 and could cover more than 60 million American workers.

The FFCRA mandates that employers with fewer than 500 employees provide workers with short-term paid sick time for various reasons tied to COVID-19 and long-term paid leave to workers who must care for kids whose schools or child care providers are closed. The law took effect on April 1, several weeks after it was signed by President Donald Trump, and will remain in place until the end of the year.

But James argued in Tuesday's suit that the DOL's rule implementing the FFCRA leaves too many workers on the outside looking in, denying them "vital financial support" and places them at greater risk of being exposed to the disease.

Also in New York, drivers for Lyft Inc. filed a proposed class action accusing the ride-hailing giant of forcibly logging off drivers who had not completed 180 rides within a month, which they say is an even higher bar for gig workers now that the coronavirus pandemic has slowed business.

--Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath, Chris Villani, Lauren Berg, Alison Grande, Matt Fair, Carolina Bolado, Jeff Sistrunk, Matthew Santoni, Morgan Conley, Adrian Cruz, Paul Williams, Jon Hill, Bill Donahue, Dave Simpson, Craig Clough, Vin Gurrieri and Jasmin Boyce. Editing by Adam LoBelia.

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