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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • November 20, 2024

    Split Panel Rules No Federal Question In Assisted Living COVID Death, Remand Proper

    ATLANTA — A split panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of a Florida federal court remanding to state court a lawsuit brought by the personal representatives of a woman who died from COVID-19 in an assisted living facility alleging that the facility failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, finding that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act was not a complete preemption statute, nor was any other federal question invoked that would confer jurisdiction on the federal court.

  • November 20, 2024

    Insured Seeks Coverage For Disparagement Suit Brought By Maker Of COVID Test

    PHILADELPHIA — An insured sued its commercial umbrella insurer in a Pennsylvania federal court seeking personal and advertising coverage for an underlying disparagement lawsuit alleging that it sent 19,000 letters to Chester County residents asserting that the COVID-19 test kits they used were unreliable.

  • November 18, 2024

    Philadelphia Eagles Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — The owner and operator of the Philadelphia Eagles football organization moved for a Pennsylvania federal court to reconsider the dismissal of its action seeking a declaration as to coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that the present lawsuit “is unlike any other that already has been decided and warrants proceeding past a motion to dismiss.”

  • November 13, 2024

    Jury Awards Over $12M To Employee Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine Due To Religion

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal jury awarded the 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.

  • November 12, 2024

    Transit Agency Says $7.8M Verdict Against It In COVID Vaccine Case Cannot Stand

    SAN FRANCISCO — A transit agency moved for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial after a California federal jury awarded six former employees in excess of $1 million each for a total of more than $7.8 million for failing to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19, contending that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that opposing counsel was allowed to repeatedly make prejudicial comments.

  • November 11, 2024

    Final OK Given To $5.5M Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Pay Class Settlement

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.5 million settlement between California workers and Amazon.com Services LLC, ending two cases in which the workers allege that they were denied pay for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts.

  • November 07, 2024

    2nd Circuit Panel Affirms No Private Right Of Action For COVID Test Reimbursement

    NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a Connecticut federal court, which dismissed the claims of a medical practice seeking reimbursement from a university and its associated health plan for the costs of testing its members for COVID-19 during the pandemic, rejecting the practice’s several arguments as to why its claims are viable.

  • November 07, 2024

    Appeal Filed By Disability Insurer In Long COVID Disability Benefits Dispute

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A disability insurer filed a notice of appeal in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal following a Virginia federal judge’s determination that a disability claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the claimant met her burden of showing that she is disabled from working as an engineer as a result of symptoms caused by long COVID.

  • November 05, 2024

    Late Medical Malpractice Case May Be Viable Due To Georgia COVID-19 Emergency Order

    ATLANTA — A Georgia Court of Appeals panel rejected a medical malpractice litigant’s arguments that the five-year statute of repose did not apply to his renewal action or did not apply because his lawsuit was previously dismissed involuntarily, but vacated the judgment of a trial court dismissing the action and remanded it for consideration of whether the statute of repose had been tolled by a COVID-era judicial order as laid out by a recent Georgia Supreme Court opinion.

  • November 04, 2024

    Challenge To Michigan Law On Which COVID Crowd Restriction Was Based Is Deemed Moot

    LANSING, Mich. — A divided Michigan Supreme Court on Nov. 1 reversed a split lower appellate panel ruling that a challenge to a state statute on which a COVID-era executive order imposing restrictions on gathering size was based was not moot and remanded the case to the appellate court for entry of an order granting summary disposition in favor of the director of the state department of health and human services.

  • November 04, 2024

    University Manager Seeks En Banc Review Of 6th Circuit’s Vaccine Ruling

    CINCINNATI — A former University of Kentucky department manager filed a motion seeking en banc review after a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a summary judgment ruling for the university’s board of trustees in a dispute over a COVID-19 test-or-vaccinate policy.

  • October 30, 2024

    State Law Allowing Mail-In Ballots To Be Received After Election Day Invalidated

    NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has struck down a COVID-era Mississippi state law providing that mail-in ballots postmarked by election day may be received by the registrar within five days of Election Day and still be valid, ruling that the provision is preempted by federal law, which the panel interpreted as requiring that ballots be received by election officials no later than Election Day.

  • October 30, 2024

    Interlocutory Appeal Filed After Dismissal Ruling In NYC Workers’ Vaccine Case

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — New York City workers who filed a putative class lawsuit after they were placed on leave for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine or claim that they were “coerced” into getting the vaccine filed a notice of interlocutory appeal after a federal judge in New York largely dismissed their claims.

  • October 29, 2024

    College’s $575,000 Settlement With Students Over Pandemic Refunds Granted Final OK

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 28 granted final approval of a $575,000 settlement to be paid by Lebanon Valley College (LVC) to end a class complaint by students seeking refunds for tuition and fees after classes switched from in-person to remote in response to the coronavirus pandemic; separately, the judge awarded attorney fees, expenses and a $2,500 class contribution award the same day.

  • October 29, 2024

    Federal Judge Stays Dismissal Of Philadelphia Eagles’ COVID-19 Coverage Dispute

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania stayed his dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the owner and operator of the Philadelphia Eagles football organization seeking a declaration as to coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic pending a ruling on the insured’s motion for reconsideration.

  • October 29, 2024

    Dismissal Of Challenge To Federal COVID Vaccination Mandate Appealed To 3rd Circuit

    CAMDEN, N.J. — Two individuals claiming that President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s executive orders requiring COVID-19 vaccines for federal employees and contractors violated their constitutional rights filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a New Jersey federal court, seeking review of the court’s ruling that the lawsuit was moot and that exceptions to mootness that might preserve its viability did not apply.

  • October 29, 2024

    Religious Bias Claims By 30 Dismissed In Mass Action Over Airline’s Vaccine Mandate

    HONOLULU, Hawaii — A federal judge in Hawaii granted an airline’s motion to partially dismiss discrimination claims made by workers in a mass action filed after a vaccine policy was implemented in August 2021 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • October 24, 2024

    11th Circuit Vacates Class Certification In University Pandemic Closure Suit

    ATLANTA — A trial court’s predominance analysis when granting class certification in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student was an abuse of discretion, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a per curiam opinion, vacating and remanding the case in which the parent seeks money back after classes and services were impacted due to the COVID-19.

  • October 24, 2024

    Driver’s Claims For Larger COVID-19 Refunds Properly Dismissed, 9th Circuit Told

    SAN FRANCISCO — GEICO in an Oct. 23 appellee brief tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a federal judge properly granted summary judgment on an insured driver’s class action claim against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by providing drivers an insufficient rebate on premiums after COVID-19, arguing that its rebate was fair under the relevant policy and state insurance regulations.

  • October 22, 2024

    Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, Federal Judge Says

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An all-risk policy’s contamination exclusion bars coverage for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic because a California appellate panel’s determination that a contamination exclusion bars coverage for COVID-19 losses is binding and warrants the same finding in a similar suit filed by insureds in federal court, a California federal judge said Oct. 21 in granting an insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • October 22, 2024

    Split Illinois High Court Affirms Judgment In Row Over Care Homes’ COVID Immunity

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A split Illinois Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court’s decision answering in the affirmative a question certified to it from a lower court after modifying it to ask whether a specific executive order issued by the Illinois governor grants “immunity for ordinary negligence claims to healthcare facilities that rendered assistance to the State during the COVID-19 pandemic,” finding that “the appellate court appropriately reframed the certified question to clarify that immunity applies only to ordinary negligence claims.”

  • October 22, 2024

    3rd Circuit Dismisses Urban Outfitters’ Appeal In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — One day after URBN US Retail LLC (Urban Outfitters) and its insurer filed a joint stipulation to dismiss, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals tossed Urban Outfitters’ appeal of a lower federal court’s dismissal of its coverage lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • October 18, 2024

    Temple University’s $6.9M Pandemic Closure Settlement Given Preliminary OK

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania preliminarily approved a $6.9 million settlement to be paid by a Philadelphia university to end a consolidated class complaint by students accusing the school of unjust enrichment and breaching its implied contractual duty to provide in-person education and access to campus services when it shut its doors in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • October 18, 2024

    Nevada High Court: No PREP Act Immunity For Failure To Set COVID Safety Protocol

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — A panel of the Nevada Supreme Court has denied a petition filed by a skilled nursing facility for a writ of mandamus directing a state court judge to dismiss the complaint of the survivor of a rehabilitation patient who died of COVID-19 contracted while in the facility, holding that neither the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act nor a state COVID-19 emergency directive granted immunity for the facility’s failure to establish an effective COVID-19 safety protocol.

  • October 18, 2024

    At Least 7 Recent ERISA Putative Class Actions Target Tobacco Surcharges

    In the past month, at least seven putative class actions targeting surcharges that tobacco or nicotine users allegedly must pay to maintain health insurance have been filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.