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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • October 07, 2025

    4th Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing Of Dispute Over Denial Of CARES Act Relief

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a small business loan recipient’s petition for en banc rehearing of a panel decision affirming the judgment of a Virginia federal court, which granted the summary judgment motion of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in a lawsuit alleging that the agency’s denial of COVID-19-related relief payments for an SBA loan violated the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and violated due process.

  • October 06, 2025

    Parties Invited To Enter Mediation, Settlement Talks In Unfulfilled PPE Order Suit

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — After a New York federal judge granted a medical equipment company’s motion for summary judgment with respect to its contract claims against a health care product distributor and its CEO seeking the return of a $323,604 down payment for a shipment of nitrile gloves it never received, a federal magistrate judge invited the parties to be referred to a court-annexed mediation program or a settlement conference before the court.

  • October 03, 2025

    Medical Transport Worker, Hospital Agree To Dismiss COVID Screening Wage Case

    CHICAGO — Pursuant to a joint stipulation of dismissal, an Illinois federal judge on Oct. 2 dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought by a former patient transport employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage laws seeking compensation for time spent being screened and tested for COVID-19 before her shift and for a week she went unpaid because of an interruption in a payroll system.

  • October 02, 2025

    9th Circuit: No ‘Bona Fide Religious Belief’ Shown To Justify COVID-19 Test Refusal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority opined that an Oregon medical center administrative employee fired for refusing to submit to weekly antigen testing for COVID-19 as an accommodation of a religious exemption from a company vaccine mandate failed to demonstrate “that she had a bona fide religious belief” that satisfied the prima facie burden required for a claim of religious discrimination pursuant to Title VII and Oregon state law in affirming a federal trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging her termination.

  • October 01, 2025

    No Coverage Owed For Washington State University’s Coronavirus Losses, Panel Affirms

    SPOKANE, Wash.— A Washington appeals panel on Sept. 30 affirmed a lower court’s grant of an insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a business interruption coverage dispute arising from the coronavirus pandemic, concluding that it is bound by the Washington Supreme Court's ruling in Hill and Stout PLLC v. Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company in holding that a business’ shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic does not constitute a “direct physical loss or damage” to insured property pursuant to an all-risk insurance policy.

  • October 01, 2025

    Mass. Appeals Panel Reverses Judgment In Fired Surgical Tech’s COVID-19 Shot Suit

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts Appeals Court panel opined that a lower court was not correct in granting a summary judgment order to a state health care system that was sued for religious discrimination by a surgical tech who worked at one of its hospitals after she was fired for failing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, finding that the employee’s belief that “her body is a temple of God” and that she determined through prayer that she could not get the vaccine could be considered religious for the purpose of an exemption, that the accommodation would not create an undue hardship and that the health care system and hospital could be classified as joint employers.

  • October 01, 2025

    Amazon Workers Who Sued Over Off-The-Clock Work Fail To Disqualify Counsel

    DENVER — Amazon.com Services LLC workers who brought a class complaint in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic alleging that they were wrongly denied pay for off-the-clock work before and after shifts, including long wait times for health screenings due to the pandemic, failed to show that Amazon’s counsel should be disqualified or that Amazon should be sanctioned, a federal judge in Colorado ruled.

  • September 29, 2025

    Texas High Court Denies Review In COVID-19 Contamination Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 26 denied an insured’s petition for review of a state appellate court’s ruling that a contamination exclusion bars coverage for the insured’s claim seeking coverage for damages and losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus.

  • September 29, 2025

    9th Circuit Vacates Statutory Penalties Of $765 In ERISA Documents Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — Cross-appeals of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act documents case that resulted in statutory penalties of $765 were resolved against a health plan beneficiary, with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals saying in an unpublished memorandum disposition that Netflix Inc. “disclosed all required documents as soon as administratively practicable ahead of the March 1, 2021, disaster order deadline and did not act in bad faith, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

  • September 29, 2025

    Texas High Court Won’t Review Baylor College Of Medicine’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 26 denied Baylor College of Medicine’s petition seeking review of an appeals court’s conclusion that the presence of the COVID-19 virus at its premises did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” its property, challenging the appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in the school’s favor.

  • September 26, 2025

    Lincoln University Settles Pandemic Tuition, Fees Class Suit For $169,500

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania university will pay $169,500 to end a student’s class suit alleging that the school was unjustly enriched after it failed to issue prorated refunds for tuition and fees after the campus closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • September 25, 2025

    $425,000 Religious Bias Award In Vaccine Refusal Case Reduced To $300,000

    CHICAGO — Pursuant to federal law governing damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination, an Illinois federal judge reduced to $300,000 a $425,000 jury verdict in favor of a former transit authority employee for his employer’s violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in refusing him a religious exemption from its mandatory vaccination policy.

  • September 24, 2025

    Texas Panel Partly Rules In Favor Of Insurers In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    DALLAS — A Texas appellate panel held that a lower court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of certain commercial property insurers in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that one of the “follow-form” insurance policies included a coverage-extension endorsement that was not present in the lead policy and the insurer that issued that policy failed to demonstrate that the contamination exclusion superseded the endorsement.

  • September 23, 2025

    COVID-Era SBA Borrower Seeks Rehearing En Banc Of Panel Denial Of CARES Act Relief

    RICHMOND, Va. — A small business loan recipient petitioned the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for rehearing en banc of a panel decision affirming the judgment of a Virginia federal court, which granted the summary judgment motion of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in a lawsuit alleging that the agency’s denial of COVID-19-related relief payments for an SBA loan violated the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and was a violation of due process.

  • September 23, 2025

    United States Supports Expanded Federal Officer Removal In Oil Company Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States told the U.S. Supreme Court that 2011 amendments broadened the federal officer removal statute, which now encompasses tasks even related to those directed by the government.

  • September 19, 2025

    Injunction Of Physician COVID-19 Misinformation Law Precluded By Younger Doctrine

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the judgment of a Washington federal court, which granted Washington state officials’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit by physicians alleging constitutional violations in initiating disciplinary proceedings against them for the publication of allegedly false views on COVID-19.

  • September 18, 2025

    Panel Finds No Constitutional Violation By School Board Against COVID Policy Critic

    CINCINNATI — Determining that school board members were either not authorized to speak for the school board or that a communication to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding a parent’s criticism of the school district’s COVID-19 policy did not constitute an adverse action violating free speech rights, a panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the school district and its board members by a Michigan federal court.

  • September 18, 2025

    Case By Prisoners Alleging Prison Mismanagement Of COVID-19 Settles

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Having been informed that the parties settled the case, a Michigan federal court dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by prisoners alleging civil rights violations by prison officials stemming from their management of the prison in response to COVID-19.

  • September 18, 2025

    Arizona High Court Strikes Down Limited Immunity For COVID-19 Treatment Providers

    PHOENIX — A divided Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of a state appellate court, which held that a state statute enacted to grant medical providers immunity for ordinary negligence in treating patients with COVID-19 was unconstitutional as violative of Arizona’s anti-abrogation clause.

  • September 17, 2025

    Appeal Of $100M Jury Award For COVID Glove Contract Breach Voluntarily Dismissed

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed Walmart Inc.’s appeal of an Arkansas federal jury award of more than $100 million to a nitrile glove supplier for Walmart’s broken promise to purchase millions of boxes of gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic and the supplier’s cross-appeal after the parties stipulated to the dismissal.

  • September 16, 2025

    PPP Loan Recipient Suing SBA For Loan Forgiveness Final Determination Drops Suit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — In a lawsuit by a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan 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), the parties on Sept. 15 stipulated to the dismissal of the lawsuit without prejudice after a Texas federal judge denied a further stay of the case.

  • September 11, 2025

    COVID Glove Supplier Awarded $100M For Contract Breach Dismisses Cross-Appeal

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A nitrile glove supplier filed a stipulation of dismissal of its cross-appeal of an Arkansas federal court judgment that, in addition to denying Walmart Inc.’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial after a jury awarded the supplier more than $100 million for a broken promise to purchase millions of boxes of gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic, let stand a $350,000 jury verdict against the supplier for tortious interference with an employment relationship and denied certain fees and costs.

  • September 10, 2025

    Employee Awarded $425,000 For Vaccine Refusal Firing Seeks Front, Back Pay

    CHICAGO — After an Illinois federal jury awarded him $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to become vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption, a former transit authority employee filed a post-trial brief in support of his request that he be awarded front and back pay.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge: Integration Brought Owners-Only LTD Policy Under ERISA

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dismissing bad faith and breach of contract claims that a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) equity owner who unsuccessfully sought long-term disability (LTD) benefits because of symptoms he attributed to long COVID asserted under California law, a California federal judge concluded that when “an employer integrates a pre-existing” policy that is not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “into a broader ERISA-governed plan, the non-ERISA policy becomes a part of the ERISA plan and is subject to the requirements and preemptive effect of ERISA.”

  • September 10, 2025

    Insurer Faulted For Terminating LTD Benefits In Case Involving Fatigue, COVID

    TRENTON, N.J. — Citing “procedural irregularities and substantive errors” in an insurer’s handling of a long-term disability (LTD) claim for an individual whose diagnoses include myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID, a New Jersey federal judge issued an unpublished opinion directing that the claimant receive about seven months of retroactive benefits and that her claim be remanded for a determination as to whether she remained eligible after her administrative appeal was denied.