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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • March 27, 2025

    High Court Hears Oral Arguments On FCC Authority Under Nondelegation Doctrine

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 heard oral arguments in consolidated cases filed by the Federal Communications Commission and telecom providers urging reversal of an en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that a subsidy program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine.”

  • March 24, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review COVID Deaths Suit Against Nursing Home Operators

    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.

  • March 21, 2025

    Florida Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Insureds’ Coronavirus Suit

    MIAMI — A Florida appeals court panel held that hotel insureds are not owed business interruption coverage in the absence of “direct physical loss” or “damage” to their properties, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • March 21, 2025

    Judge Excludes Expert In Stock Price Case, Grants Test Maker Summary Judgment

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah granted a diagnostic test manufacturer summary judgment in a lawsuit by stockholders for allegedly misrepresenting the accuracy of its COVID-19 tests after the judge found that the stockholders’ expert could not prove loss causation.

  • March 20, 2025

    Parties Stipulate To Dismissal In Suit Alleging Damaged Credit During COVID-19

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A credit reporting agency and a borrower on March 19 filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice in a North Carolina federal court in the borrower’s lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by the agency in reporting his car loan as delinquent despite an accommodation the borrower claimed to have obtained from the lender.

  • March 20, 2025

    Insurer To 4th Circuit: Overturn Ruling In Long Covid Disability Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Arguing that the lower court improperly applied de novo review and wrongly concluded that the claimant showed that she is disabled from working as an engineer because of long COVID symptoms, an insurer urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment that the claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • March 19, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit Against GEICO After Parties File Joint Notice Of Dismissal

    CHICAGO — The same day the parties filed a joint notice of dismissal, an Illinois federal judge dismissed with prejudice insureds’ lawsuit alleging that auto insurers violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by charging “excessive” premiums during the COVID-19 pandemic that failed to account for a dramatic reduction in driving.

  • March 18, 2025

    No Rehearing In Overturn Of State Law Allowing Ballot Receipt After Election Day

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied panel rehearing and rehearing en banc of a panel decision striking 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, with five circuit judges dissenting from the denial.

  • March 18, 2025

    COVID-19 Rent Moratorium Does Not Excuse Landlord From Paying Building Mortgage

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Concluding that a building owner being legally prevented from collecting rents during the COVID-19 pandemic did not excuse his obligation to pay loans on his multifamily building, a New York federal magistrate recommended that the lenders’ motions for summary judgment, default judgment and judgment of foreclosure be granted.

  • March 14, 2025

    Airlines Seek Judgment On Rest Of Claims Of Flyer Who Could Not Mask During COVID

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of airlines on March 13 moved a Kentucky federal court for judgment on the pleadings or summary judgment in a lawsuit by an airline passenger who was prevented from flying because a disability prevented him from wearing a mask as required by the federal transportation mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic, contending that the statutes invoked by the passenger did not apply.

  • March 14, 2025

    University Denies Existence Of Contract With Student Who Died In COVID-19 Isolation

    NEWARK, N.J. — In response to the amended complaint filed by the estate and parents of a college sophomore who died from an epileptic seizure while in a university’s COVID-19 isolation alleging breach of contract and of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the university on March 13 moved a New Jersey federal court to dismiss the complaint, contending that there was no valid contract between it and the student.

  • March 14, 2025

    Associations Urge High Court Reversal Of Ruling Finding Nondelegation Violation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Telecom provider petitioners and broadband association petitioners filed reply briefs on March 13 in the U.S. Supreme Court, urging reversal of an en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that a subsidy program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine” after the high court granted two petitions for a writ of certiorari and consolidated cases concerning whether Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine by authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to delegate to a private entity.

  • March 14, 2025

    COVID Test Payment Suit Properly Tossed For Not Seeking Administrative Remedies

    NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of a New York federal court, which dismissed a lawsuit by a medical practice seeking reimbursement for COVID-19 testing for the members of a health care workers’ union because the practice failed to establish that it had exhausted its administrative remedies in attempting to obtain payment.

  • March 13, 2025

    School Says Parent’s Threatening Board Meeting Behavior Not Protected Speech

    CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — In a lawsuit by a school parent alleging that a school district deprived him of his First Amendment rights in banning him from attending school board meetings because of his allegedly disruptive and threatening behavior in protest of the board’s masking and vaccination policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the school district on March 12 moved for summary judgment, arguing that the parent’s behavior was not constitutionally protected and that the school officials were entitled to qualified immunity.

  • March 13, 2025

    FTC, Nasal Spray Maker Stipulate To Dismissal In COVID Prevention Claims Case

    SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Trade Commission and a company that claims to make a nasal spray that provides protection against and treatment for COVID-19 filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice that states that each party is responsible for its own costs and that no party is responsible to any other party for fines, cost or penalties arising from the case.

  • March 12, 2025

    Discrimination Not Shown In Suit Alleging Improper Denial Of Mortgage Relief

    JACKSON, Miss. — Ruling that a homeowner failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, a Mississippi federal judge on March 11 granted the summary judgment motion of an Illinois mortgage servicer in the homeowner’s lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) after the servicer foreclosed on her home without offering mortgage modifications sought by the homeowner, who had experienced income loss due to her divorce and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • March 12, 2025

    Split D.C. Circuit Enforces NLRB Ruling In Dispute Over Impasse, Employment Terms

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied an employer’s petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the employer alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics both before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • March 11, 2025

    Employer Says Employee Did Not Establish Religious Conflict With COVID-19 Vaccine

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Contending that a former employee did not establish a conflict between her faith and the COVID-19 vaccine and that accommodating her objection to the vaccine would impose an undue burden on the company, a sportswear company has moved for summary judgment in a lawsuit by the employee, who alleged that the company failed to make a good faith effort to accommodate her religious beliefs in terminating her.

  • March 10, 2025

    Federal Judge Enters $24B Judgment Against China For COVID-19 Economic Damage

    CAPE GIRDEAU, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge on March 7 entered a default judgment in favor of the state of Missouri in the amount of almost $24.5 billion in the state’s lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China, other Chinese governmental entities, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences alleging that the defendants covered up the existence and danger of COVID-19 and hoarded personal protective equipment (PPE) to the detriment to the citizens of Missouri.

  • March 07, 2025

    Employees Fired For Vaccine Refusal Cannot Sue Employer For Civil Rights Violation

    EUGENE, Ore. — Determining that a hospital was not a state actor in terminating employees who refused the COVID-19 vaccine pursuant to the hospital’s state-law-compliant vaccination mandate and that there is no private right of action in the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Act, an Oregon federal court granted a motion to dismiss of the hospital and its chief executive and chief medical officers in the employees’ lawsuit alleging civil rights violations, statutory violations and state law claims stemming from their termination.

  • March 07, 2025

    Judge: Limitation On Public Comment In City Meeting Does Not Violate Constitution

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ruling that city officials were entitled to set limits on the types of speech allowed during public comment periods at meetings, a Kansas federal court on March 6 granted the officials’ motion for summary judgment, at the same time denying the partial summary judgment motion of the speaker, who sued the officials and the city alleging civil rights and other violations after he was ejected twice from City Commission meetings.

  • March 06, 2025

    Baylor College Of Medicine Seeks Texas High Court Review Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — Baylor College of Medicine filed a petition in the Texas Supreme Court 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” to its property, challenging the appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in the school’s favor.

  • March 06, 2025

    COVID-19 Countermeasure Causation Standards Are Not Final Agency Action, HHS Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government on March 5 moved to dismiss a lawsuit brought by more than 200 individuals whose family members were treated during the COVID-19 pandemic with and allegedly died as a direct result of certain countermeasures such as hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin and alleged that the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was applying an incorrect standard for eligibility and to date had found no one eligible for the Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program (CICP) benefits.

  • March 05, 2025

    Employee Objection To COVID-19 Vaccine Was Medical, Not Religious, Judge Concludes

    CHICAGO — Deeming an employee’s objections to the COVID-19 vaccine medical rather than religious, an Illinois federal judge granted her employer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the employee’s lawsuit alleging that she was denied a religious accommodation for the employer’s mandatory vaccination policy in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

  • March 05, 2025

    Final Approval Of $40M Settlement Granted In Securities Fraud Class Action

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland granted final approval of a $40 million settlement in a securities fraud class action brought by investors against a COVID-19 vaccine contractor that experienced contamination issues at its Bayview, Md., manufacturing facility and several of its executives.