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September 09, 2026
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former railroad conductor and his wife filed a complaint in West Virginia federal court against his former employer, a railroad carrier, asserting claims for retaliation and loss of consortium related to his “removal” from employment, which he alleges was done in retaliation for raising concerns about safety and deficiencies in equipment, as well as refusal to comply with a requirement to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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September 09, 2026
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted in part motions to dismiss in investors’ putative class suit alleging that a company that operates skilled nursing facilities used improper Medicare billing practices to inflate revenue, finding that Securities Act claims survive against the company, individual defendants and certain underwriter defendants for financial misstatements but that Exchange Act claims are dismissed without prejudice for failure to plead scienter.
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September 08, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The city of Bellingham, Wash., waived its right to respond to former city employees’ petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling affirming dismissal of the employees’ claims that their 14th Amendment rights were violated after they refused to become vaccinated against COVID-19.
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September 08, 2026
DURHAM, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina granted summary judgment in favor of four Durham businesses on their claims for declaratory judgment, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair and deceptive trade practices in their lawsuit seeking coverage for their business interruption losses arising from the lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, holding that their mutual commercial property insurer failed to identify any policy provisions, exclusions or factual distinctions that would place the insureds’ claims outside the scope of the North State Deli, LLC, et al. v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company, et al. decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
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September 08, 2026
JACKSON, Miss. — In a 5-2 ruling with one justice not participating, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment to a hospital and physicians in a medical negligence suit against them related to a patient’s sepsis and death, finding in part that a genuine issue of material fact remains regarding whether the application of immunity related to the COVID-19 pandemic under state law applies to the claim for failure to timely transfer the decedent to a facility with a higher level of care.
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September 04, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 4 denied a petition for rehearing of a divided court’s prior denial of a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a group of health care workers who sought review of whether a now-repealed New York COVID-19 vaccine regulation violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Constitution.
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September 04, 2026
The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for Sept. 16 in the most advanced appeal arising from a wave of putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to tobacco surcharges, and at least five similar appeals are under way.
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September 02, 2026
DURHAM, N.C. — A mediator told a North Carolina federal court on Sept. 1 that four Durham businesses and their commercial property insurer have reached an impasse following mediation of the insureds’ declaratory judgment, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair and deceptive trade practices claims in their lawsuit seeking coverage for their business interruption losses arising from the lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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September 02, 2026
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court’s partial reversal of a state Workers’ Compensation Board’s opinion vacating and remanding an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) award, finding that because some of the ALJ’s findings regarding the worker’s exposure to COVID-19 are not supported by the evidence, the workers’ compensation claim must be remanded to the ALJ for further assessment.
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August 28, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted final approval to an $800,000 settlement between Widener University and a class of students that contended the school breached contracts and was unjustly enriched when it failed to provide prorated refunds for tuition and fees after the school shuttered on-campus teaching, services and amenities and transitioned to remote teaching in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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August 26, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a lower court’s entry of summary judgment for corrections officers in a former detainee’s suit alleging constitutional violations related to his treatment for alleged symptoms of COVID-19, finding that the detainee raised a genuine issue of material fact regarding the availability of the appeals process for his grievances.
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August 25, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — Finding no “reversible error,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a suit alleging federal and state constitutional violations arising from a woman’s arrest at a protest against North Carolina’s COVID-19 emergency orders.
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August 21, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, a fired Oregon medical center administrative employee wants the justices “to resolve Circuit conflict on an important question of Title VII interpretation” and “realign the Ninth and Third Circuits with the majority of their sister Circuits, and with this Court’s many, unequivocal decisions robustly protecting a broad range of religious beliefs” in a dispute over her termination after she refused to submit to weekly antigen testing for COVID-19 as an accommodation to a religious exemption from a company vaccine mandate.
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August 20, 2026
We asked attorneys who handle disability benefits cases to weigh in on why certain decisions handed down in the past year were significant.
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August 19, 2026
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied both parties’ requests for sanctions and affirmed a magistrate judge’s order denying the parties’ discovery requests in a breach of contract suit against a COVID-19 test manufacturer and supplier over alleged defective tests, finding that the magistrate judge correctly denied reopening discovery and that sanctions were not merited.
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August 18, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to a rehabilitation facility and related entities in an estate’s wrongful death suit after a facility worker died from COVID-19, finding that the facility had immunity under New Jersey’s COVID immunity statute and that no exceptions for gross negligence or willful misconduct applied.
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August 18, 2026
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted summary judgment for hospitals in a relator’s suit against them alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and similar state law for purportedly forming interlocal agreements involving Florida’s Low Income Pool Program (LIP), a hospital reimbursement program for Medicaid services, finding that the claims are barred by the public disclosure bar in part because the agreements were publicly filed with a Florida county court clerk.
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August 18, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an insured’s petition for rehearing of its ruling affirming a lower court’s denial of the insured’s motion for relief from a final judgment against it in a coronavirus coverage dispute, leaving intact its ruling that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s pro-coverage decision in North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. does not prompt reopening and revising the prior judgments.
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August 17, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — United Airlines Inc. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to consider Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s commonality and predominance requirements in a class case by workers who accuse the airline of discrimination by failing to provide religious and medical accommodations from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
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August 13, 2026
PASADENA, Calif. — Adding an unpublished memorandum disposition to the short list of appellate rulings in disability benefits cases involving long COVID, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that a former underwriter who says he was disabled by cognitive impairments and other symptoms he attributes to long COVID “failed to meet his burden of proof” in seeking long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
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August 13, 2026
NEW YORK — In a student’s putative class action seeking reimbursement for tuition for when Syracuse University transitioned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified to the New York Court of Appeals a question regarding whether New York law requires that a university make a “specific” promise to provide “exclusively” in-person instruction in order to form an implied contract, finding that the split between federal and state courts on the application of New York contract law to COVID transitions to remote learning implicates important state interests.
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August 12, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California on Aug. 11 sent to arbitration damages claims under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and false advertising law (FAL) that remained following a summary judgment ruling in a putative class action brought by consumers seeking injunctive relief or restitution related to StubHub Inc.’s refund policy changes implemented for events canceled or rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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August 11, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to Chicago in a wrongful death and failure to accommodate suit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related state law after a police officer contracted COVID-19 and died, finding that the record shows that the Chicago Police Department did accommodate the decedent and that his illness and death did not result from COVID-19 exposure that occurred after he requested reassignment.
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August 07, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) waived its response to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a group of workers asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine how much detail is needed regarding a plaintiff’s religious beliefs to file a Title VII claim and survive dismissal after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority affirmed dismissal of religious discrimination claims stemming from requests for exemption from COVID-19 testing, masking and distancing guidelines.
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August 07, 2026
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying two enrolled students’ motion for an injunction to require a school district to consider COVID-19 masking on a case-by-case basis and reversed the court’s dismissal for lack of standing as to two unenrolled students, finding that the lower court did not err in ruling that the accommodations to prevent infection were effective as to the enrolled students but that the lower court erred regarding the unenrolled students who would have returned with a masking policy change.