Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Coronavirus

  • May 20, 2025

    U.S. High Court Refuses To Review Insurers’ Petition In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 19 denied insurers’ petition for a writ of certiorari asking it to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct,” leaving undisturbed a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land.

  • May 20, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects Insurer’s Challenge To Ruling In Favor Of Tribal Court Judges

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 19 declined an insurer’s invitation to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ holding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over it in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, refusing to review the appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of two tribal court judges on the alternative ground that the insurance policy at issue satisfies Montana v. United States’ consensual-relationship exception.

  • May 20, 2025

    School Mask Mandate Not Proper Basis For Removal Of Board Members, Panel Rules

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Ruling that elected school board members could be removed only for nonfeasance of mandatory duties and not malfeasance or misfeasance, a panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in consolidated appeals affirmed the judgment of a trial court that quashed related petitions against two different school boards seeking the removal of board members for having instituted mask mandates in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • May 20, 2025

    Rehearing Denied To ER Doctor Suspended For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied the petition of an emergency room doctor for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a 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.

  • May 19, 2025

    Rhode Island Federal Judge Halts HHS Termination Of COVID-Related Grants

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge on May 16 granted a motion by several states for a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from implementing or enforcing a March 24 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended.

  • May 16, 2025

    Attorney Fees Motion Deemed Premature After Defense Verdict In Pandemic Policy Case

    ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri found premature an employee’s pro se motion to block any request for attorney fees or sanctions after a jury returned a verdict for her employer in her lawsuit challenging the organization’s pandemic policies.

  • May 16, 2025

    6th Circuit Finds No Abuse Of Discretion In Long COVID LTD Benefits Denial

    CINCINNATI — Ruling against a claimant who said in her opening brief that “this appears to be the first ‘Long COVID’ disability case to come before the Court,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 15 affirmed a judgment upholding denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits, concluding that the insurer’s “decision was neither procedurally nor substantively unreasonable.”

  • May 14, 2025

    Class Denied, University Pandemic Closure Suit Dismissed Following Remand

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied certification of a previously certified class in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the complaint that sought money back after classes and services were impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • 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.