( March 24, 2025, 11:07 AM EDT) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a California nursing home operator and affiliated defendants that sought to challenge the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of the remand to state court of a claim against them for the deaths of 15 elderly residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, which they contended was preempted by the federal PREP Act....