Mealey's Coronavirus
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October 17, 2023
1st Circuit Upholds Ruling For University Board In Students’ Pandemic-Related Case
BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s ruling for a university board in a putative class complaint by students seeking full or partial refunds of tuition and fees after the University of Rhode Island (URI) transitioned to online learning and largely shut down in-person services in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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October 16, 2023
6th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Upholding University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by a Michigan State University (MSU) worker after a Sixth Circuit panel ruled in the putative class complaint that the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate did not violate employees’ constitutional rights and was not preempted by federal law.
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October 16, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In 2nd Challenge To Chevron Deference
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in a second case challenging the doctrine of Chevron deference and ordered that it be briefed on a schedule allowing argument “in tandem” with a pending case pertaining to the same issue, both of which involve challenges to regulations that require fishing vessels to pay federal monitors.
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October 16, 2023
High Court Denies Cert To Nursing Home Seeking Reversal Of COVID Suit Remand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 16 denied a nursing home’s petition for certiorari seeking to reverse a remand to state court of an elder abuse and negligence suit against it for complications allegedly related to a resident contracting COVID-19 on grounds that the state law negligence claims are preempted by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
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October 12, 2023
SBA Argues It Can Deny PPP Loan Forgiveness If Borrower Was Never Eligible For Loan
AMARILLO, Texas — In an action brought by a truck dealer against the federal government challenging the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) determination that the dealer was not initially eligible for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and thus ineligible for loan forgiveness, the federal government defendants cross-moved for summary judgment while at the same filing their response to the dealer’s prior motion for summary judgment.
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October 12, 2023
9th Circuit: Accrued Vacation Owed When Hotel Announced Pandemic Temporary Layoff
PASADENA, Calif. — A hotel chain owed workers accrued vacation pay when it temporarily laid them off at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as that was “a discharge that triggers the prompt payments provision of” California Labor Code Section 201, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, partially reversing a trial court’s summary judgment ruling for Hyatt Corp.
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October 11, 2023
Judge Dismisses UCL Claim, Allows Debt-Collection Claims In Mortgage Servicing Row
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a suit brought against a mortgage lender, its affiliate and a servicer, finding that the borrower and a resident of the property at issue did not allege a loss of money as required by their claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) but brought valid debt collection claims for unfair practices pertaining to payment of a consumer debt during a COVID-19 forbearance period.
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October 11, 2023
1st Circuit Partially Vacates Injunctive Relief Denial In Workers’ Vaccine Case
BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partially vacated a preliminary injunctive relief denial by a trial court in a lawsuit filed by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority after their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied, finding that the workers’ free exercise claim must be considered on remand under the appropriate legal framework.
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October 10, 2023
Bank Granted Summary Judgment In Fired Workers’ Suit Over COVID-19 Vaccine Policy
NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) was granted summary judgment by a federal judge in New York in a lawsuit by two former employees who alleged that the bank failed to accommodate their religious beliefs when they were denied exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccination policy.
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October 10, 2023
Citing Mudpie, 9th Circuit Affirms Virus Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of insureds’ lawsuit seeking coverage for their losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent governmental orders, finding that, as in Mudpie, Inc. v. Travelers Cas. Ins. Co. of Am., the insureds failed to plausibly assert that “the efficient cause” of their losses was anything other than the spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout California.
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October 10, 2023
$130,000 Settlement Approved In Class Case Over Hospitals’ Vaccine Mandate
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan granted final approval of a $130,000 settlement in a class lawsuit by current and former employees over their employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy and awarded class counsel one-third of the settlement fund for attorney fees.
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October 10, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Landowners’ Petition In Pandemic Access Class Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 10 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari by Dare County, N.C., property owners who brought a class complaint over a 45-day ban preventing nonresident property owners from entering the county that was put in place in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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October 09, 2023
Maine Health Workers Ask U.S. High Court To Take Up COVID-19 Vaccine Challenge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maine health care workers who were fired after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine citing religious beliefs filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to hear their appeal in which they argue that the denials of religious accommodations violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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October 06, 2023
Panel Tosses Appeal Of Order Denying Care Home Dismissal In Negligence Suit
BEAUMONT, Texas — A Texas appellate court dismissed a nursing home’s appeal of a lower court’s order denying its motion for summary judgment and dismissal in a negligence suit filed against it by the estate of a woman alleging that treatment she received at the nursing home fell below the appropriate standard of care, finding that the order from which the nursing home “appeals is an unappealable interlocutory order.”
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October 06, 2023
5th Circuit Remands Coverage Suit Over $1M Settlement Of Canceled Music Festival
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 5 remanded an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $1 million class action settlement arising from its refusal to refund ticket sales for the South by Southwest festival that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, finding that it cannot reach the merits of the appeal because the parties have not established diversity of citizenship.
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October 04, 2023
Insurer Asks 8th Circuit To Reconsider Remand Of Coronavirus Coverage Suit
ST. LOUIS — An insurer seeks rehearing or rehearing en banc of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that reversed and remanded a coronavirus coverage lawsuit for an Iowa federal court to determine whether federal diversity jurisdiction exists, arguing that the panel “expressly rejected the principle of federal law that parties are bound by their concessions of jurisdictional facts.”
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October 04, 2023
Twitter User Denied Certiorari In Suit Over State Action Censorship For COVID Posts
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari by a doctor who sought guidance on the proper pleadings standards to allege state-sponsored censorship related to Twitter Inc.’s suspension of her social media account, letting stand the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the petitioner did not sufficiently allege conspiracy between the White House and Twitter in a purported effort to silence her views on COVID-19 and vaccines, which conflicted with those of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration.
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October 04, 2023
Class Reps, Health Care Provider Oppose Intervention Attempt In Vaccine Case
CINCINNATI — Class representatives and a health care provider who have reached a preliminarily approved settlement in a case over the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy filed separate appellee briefs in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals responding to an appeal by a doctor after his motion to intervene was denied by the trial court.
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October 03, 2023
California Panel Reverses Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Coronavirus Coverage Suit
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel on Oct. 2 reversed and remanded a lower court’s order granting a group of insurers’ motion for judgment on the pleadings in a real estate investment firm’s coronavirus coverage dispute, rejecting the insurers’ argument that the pollution exclusion barred coverage.
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October 03, 2023
Summary Judgment Sought In Challenge To California COVID Misinformation Ban
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A group of physicians moved a California federal court for summary judgment in their lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and several other California officials claiming that a state statute allowing medical boards to discipline physicians for disseminating misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutionally vague.
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October 03, 2023
5th Circuit Reinstates City Worker’s Retaliation Claim In Pandemic Leave Case
NEW ORLEANS — A Texas city employee who alleged that she was fired after taking leave when she lost her childcare during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic may proceed with her Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) retaliation claim, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Oct. 2 in a per curiam opinion, finding that when the facts presented were viewed in the worker’s favor, they could lead a reasonable jury to find that the reason given for the termination was pretextual.
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October 02, 2023
Federal Judge Rules For Insurer In Landlord’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Sept. 29 granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a coronavirus coverage suit, noting that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held in 11012 Holdings, Inc. v. Sentinel Ins. Co. that, pursuant to New York law, the unambiguous words “physical loss or damage” “require actual physical loss of or damage to the insured's property.”
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October 02, 2023
High Court Will Not Review Airline Passengers’ Challenge To TSA COVID-19 Mask Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 2 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari of two airline passengers seeking review of a per curiam opinion of a panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denying the passengers’ petition for review of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) regulations enforcing the COVID-19 federal transportation mask mandate.
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September 29, 2023
Idaho High Court Affirms Ruling Upholding Care Home Citation For COVID Violations
BOISE, Idaho — A unanimous Idaho Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision denying an assisted living facility’s petition for review of an enforcement action that cited the facility for failure to provide a safe living environment for residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that “substantial evidence” supported a hearing officer’s conclusion that the facility’s “failure to properly implement infectious disease controls created an unsafe living environment.”
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September 28, 2023
3rd Circuit Affirms Remand Order In COVID Death Suit Against Decedent’s Employer
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 27 affirmed a lower court’s order granting an estate administrator’s motion to remand to state court a wrongful death and negligence suit filed against a nursing home after the decedent’s death from COVID-19, which she purportedly contracted while employed there, finding in part that remand was correct because the suit does not allege willful misconduct under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.