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August 19, 2026
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied both parties’ requests for sanctions and affirmed a magistrate judge’s order denying the parties’ discovery requests in a breach of contract suit against a COVID-19 test manufacturer and supplier over alleged defective tests, finding that the magistrate judge correctly denied reopening discovery and that sanctions were not merited.
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August 18, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to a rehabilitation facility and related entities in an estate’s wrongful death suit after a facility worker died from COVID-19, finding that the facility had immunity under New Jersey’s COVID immunity statute and that no exceptions for gross negligence or willful misconduct applied.
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August 18, 2026
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted summary judgment for hospitals in a relator’s suit against them alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and similar state law for purportedly forming interlocal agreements involving Florida’s Low Income Pool Program (LIP), a hospital reimbursement program for Medicaid services, finding that the claims are barred by the public disclosure bar in part because the agreements were publicly filed with a Florida county court clerk.
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August 18, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an insured’s petition for rehearing of its ruling affirming a lower court’s denial of the insured’s motion for relief from a final judgment against it in a coronavirus coverage dispute, leaving intact its ruling that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s pro-coverage decision in North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. does not prompt reopening and revising the prior judgments.
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August 17, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — United Airlines Inc. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to consider Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s commonality and predominance requirements in a class case by workers who accuse the airline of discrimination by failing to provide religious and medical accommodations from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
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August 13, 2026
PASADENA, Calif. — Adding an unpublished memorandum disposition to the short list of appellate rulings in disability benefits cases involving long COVID, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that a former underwriter who says he was disabled by cognitive impairments and other symptoms he attributes to long COVID “failed to meet his burden of proof” in seeking long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
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August 13, 2026
NEW YORK — In a student’s putative class action seeking reimbursement for tuition for when Syracuse University transitioned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified to the New York Court of Appeals a question regarding whether New York law requires that a university make a “specific” promise to provide “exclusively” in-person instruction in order to form an implied contract, finding that the split between federal and state courts on the application of New York contract law to COVID transitions to remote learning implicates important state interests.
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August 12, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California on Aug. 11 sent to arbitration damages claims under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and false advertising law (FAL) that remained following a summary judgment ruling in a putative class action brought by consumers seeking injunctive relief or restitution related to StubHub Inc.’s refund policy changes implemented for events canceled or rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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August 11, 2026
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to Chicago in a wrongful death and failure to accommodate suit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related state law after a police officer contracted COVID-19 and died, finding that the record shows that the Chicago Police Department did accommodate the decedent and that his illness and death did not result from COVID-19 exposure that occurred after he requested reassignment.
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August 07, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) waived its response to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a group of workers asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine how much detail is needed regarding a plaintiff’s religious beliefs to file a Title VII claim and survive dismissal after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority affirmed dismissal of religious discrimination claims stemming from requests for exemption from COVID-19 testing, masking and distancing guidelines.
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August 07, 2026
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying two enrolled students’ motion for an injunction to require a school district to consider COVID-19 masking on a case-by-case basis and reversed the court’s dismissal for lack of standing as to two unenrolled students, finding that the lower court did not err in ruling that the accommodations to prevent infection were effective as to the enrolled students but that the lower court erred regarding the unenrolled students who would have returned with a masking policy change.
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August 06, 2026
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board’s ruling upholding a judge’s dismissal of a police officer’s claim for work-related COVID-19 exposure, finding that res judicata applies because the officer previously litigated petitions to reinstate benefits and for penalties for the same alleged injury.
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August 06, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California federal magistrate judge denied an American wet wipes reseller’s motion to dismiss a Chinese company’s breach of contract claim against it for terminating orders made during the coronavirus pandemic for 242,000 canisters of wet wipes but granted its motion to dismiss the claim against it for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), which the judge said is foreclosed because the Chinese company’s breach of contract claim provides an adequate remedy at law.
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August 05, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a lower court ruling dismissing claims for violation of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) in parents’ suit alleging that the COVID-19 vaccine caused the death of their 14-year-old daughter, finding that the PREP Act claims could not be dismissed by a single judge because motions to dismiss willful misconduct claims are statutorily required to be heard by a three-judge court.
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August 03, 2026
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court ruling granting summary disposition to a hospital and rehabilitation facilities in an estate representative’s medical malpractice suit over the death of a senior patient from sepsis, finding that the defendants failed to show a nexus between the alleged negligent treatment of the decedent’s pressure ulcers and the COVID-19 pandemic to establish immunity under the Pandemic Health Care Immunity Act (PHCIA).
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July 29, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an antitrust dispute with Apple Inc. over Apple’s alleged rejection of an app maker’s revamped app to reflect COVID “hot spots,” finding that the proffered complaint fails to “plausibly allege a relevant product market” under the Sherman Act.
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July 27, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a June opinion in which a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Massachusetts federal judge’s finding that a biopharmaceutical company’s patent claims were invalid as anticipated by a public disclosure of a chemical compound central to the patent, the patent holder has filed a petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, arguing that the panel’s opinion creates a new and unprecedented requirement for an in haec verba disclosure to satisfy the written description requirement.
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July 27, 2026
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge granted summary judgment for country music duo Big & Rich and their management company in a suit by a concert organizer alleging intentional interference with contractual relations related to John Rich’s alleged tweets on the platform X regarding a concert in Phoenix and COVID-19 restrictions, finding that the evidence did not raise an inference that Big & Rich “acted in bad faith.”
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July 22, 2026
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a New York federal judge’s partial summary judgment ruling in favor of a court employee on a Title VII claim seeking a religious accommodation from her employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, holding that the judge failed to apply the prima facie standard established in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. and remanding for further proceedings with additional instructions to reconsider the significance of discovery evidence.
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July 22, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A borrower sued his mortgage lender and credit-reporting agencies in New Jersey federal court, alleging that a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) COVID-19 Recovery Modification plan directing him to make lower mortgage payments for a three-month trial period was deceptive and that the language in his trial plan letter suggested that his loan’s credit-reporting status would remain unchanged or that reporting might be suspended rather than causing “new, escalating derogatory ratings.”
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July 21, 2026
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal for lack of standing of a landlord’s putative class action that alleged constitutional violations against the city of Detroit for purportedly unlawfully conditioning COVID-19 emergency rental assistance on compliance with the city’s municipal code, finding that the lower court correctly held that the landlord lacked standing because he applied for funding under the state’s control “and the State’s voluntary choice to apply the City’s policies severed the causal chain” between the city and the landlord.
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July 21, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected two separate insureds’ motions for relief from a lower federal court’s final judgments against them in their coronavirus coverage disputes, rejecting their arguments that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s pro-coverage decision in North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. should prompt the lower court to reopen and revise its prior judgments.
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July 21, 2026
CHICAGO — In consolidated appeals by rehabilitation centers, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s rulings granting summary judgment in favor of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in three related cases, finding that the SBA’s Corporate Group Rule limiting the aggregate amount of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans within a single corporate group was not improperly applied retroactively because the loans were disbursed after the rule was implemented.
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July 17, 2026
GREENVILLE, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge granted in part the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss a nonprofit’s suit seeking a tax refund pursuant to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) because of government orders that partially suspended its business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the claim for declaratory judgment should be dismissed as barred by the Declaratory Judgment Act and the Anti-Injunction Act.
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July 17, 2026
DETROIT — A Michigan appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s ruling granting summary disposition for a hospital and physician in a man’s suit alleging gross negligence, medical malpractice and violations of his civil rights over a hospital’s alleged failure to admit him for his purported COVID-19 symptoms, finding that the hospital and physician were entitled to immunity under the Pandemic Health Care Immunity Act (PHCIA) for medical malpractice because the claims involved negligence rather than gross negligence and because the gross negligence “claim sounded in medical malpractice such that it was also barred by immunity.”