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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • April 21, 2026

    Summary Affirmance Sought In Would-Be Intervenors’ Appeal In Vaccine Row With CDC

    BOSTON — Contending that a children’s advocacy group and others who sought to intervene in a lawsuit to block recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine recommendations and its advisory committee could not show that their motion to intervene was improperly denied, the federal government moved the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for summary disposition of the would-be intervenors’ appeal of the denial of their motion by a Massachusetts federal court.

  • April 21, 2026

    Taxpayer Allowed To Amend Complaint To Show COVID Orders Caused Partial Shutdown

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Determining that a taxpayer seeking employee retention credits (ERCs) authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act had plausibly alleged that its manufacturing facility was partially suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic due to orders from a governmental authority limiting commerce, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge granted the taxpayer’s motion to amend its complaint and denied the government’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.

  • April 20, 2026

    High Court Will Not Review Qualified Immunity Ruling In COVID Nursing Home Deaths

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court on April 20 declined to review a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming the judgment of a New York federal court that found that state officials had qualified immunity from claims stemming from the deaths of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after a state directive prevented nursing homes from denying admission to patients having or suspected of having COVID-19.

  • April 20, 2026

    Supreme Court Will Not Review California’s COVID-19 Doctor Misinformation Statute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 20 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by physician advocacy groups and affiliated physicians seeking to prevent enforcement of a California statute that regulates professional conduct and provides for discipline of physicians who deviate from standards of care, arguing that the law could be used to sanction physicians based on their COVID-19 viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment.

  • April 20, 2026

    Divided 9th Circuit Denies Rehearing In Religious Bias COVID Test Refusal Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a split vote with two dissents, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition to rehear en banc a case in which a panel majority affirmed the dismissal of a fired Oregon medical center administrative employee’s lawsuit challenging her termination for refusing to submit to weekly antigen testing for COVID-19 as an accommodation of a religious exemption from a company vaccine mandate, despite both parties calling for another look at the case.

  • April 16, 2026

    Wisconsin COVID Health Care Immunity Law Does Not Violate Right To Jury Trial

    MADISON, Wis. — Holding that the Legislature was constitutionally empowered to suspend common-law causes of action, a unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a judgment of the state Court of Appeals, which had ruled that a COVID-era statute providing immunity from liability for medical treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic unconstitutionally deprived a woman who delivered a stillborn child of the right to a jury trial on malpractice claims against a hospital and health care workers.

  • April 13, 2026

    Plaintiffs Still Mostly Prevail At Dismissal In Tobacco Surcharge Cases

    As the number of health plan sponsors facing putative class lawsuits over tobacco surcharges keeps rising, plaintiffs continue to get claims past dismissal most of the time, but in the last month one case has been dismissed while four survived dismissal wholly or in part; additionally, a similar case that slightly preceded the wave was ruled time-barred at summary judgment.

  • April 13, 2026

    Taxpayer Seeking Refund Of COVID-Era Tax Credits Again Amends Complaint

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A taxpayer seeking to compel the Internal Revenue Service to process its claim of employee retention credits (ERC) it says it is owed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act filed a third amended complaint after the government moved to dismiss the taxpayer’s second amended complaint on the grounds that all of the relief the taxpayer sought was barred by statute.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge: No Coverage Exists For Fraud Suit Arising From Purchase Of COVID-19 Test Kits

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted a professional liability insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying action alleging that its insured fraudulently induced a company to pay $1,965,000 for 151,200 COVID-19 test kits that were never delivered or refunded, holding that no coverage was triggered because the underlying action alleged intentional and fraudulent conduct by the insured.

  • April 10, 2026

    Fired Worker Who Refused Vaccine Did Not Show Religious Conflict With Vaccination

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Adopting a federal magistrate judge’s findings and recommendation, an Oregon federal judge granted an employer’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit by a former employee who alleged that the company failed to make a good faith effort to accommodate her religious beliefs when it terminated her for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine pursuant to company policy during the pandemic.

  • April 08, 2026

    Denied Intervenors In Vaccine Dispute With CDC Seek Quick Reversal By 1st Circuit

    BOSTON — A children’s advocacy group and others who were denied leave to intervene in a lawsuit to block recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine recommendations and its advisory committee moved the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for emergency relief, requesting reversal of a Massachusetts federal court’s denial of intervention within 21 days.

  • April 06, 2026

    Washington Urges Denial Of Certiorari In COVID-19 Misinformation Policy Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington state officials on April 6 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the petition for a writ of certiorari of physicians and other entities who alleged constitutional violations by the state of Washington in initiating disciplinary proceedings against the doctors for the publication of allegedly false views on COVID-19, arguing that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly applied the relevant law and that the case was a poor vehicle for review.

  • April 01, 2026

    7th Circuit Receives Illinois High Court Ruling On Pre-Shift COVID-19 Screening

    CHICAGO — Having received a response from the Illinois Supreme Court in the negative as to whether the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL) incorporates the federal Portal-to-Portal Act (PPA) amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) so as to exclude certain pre-shift activities, such as screening for COVID-19, from compensable time, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals directed the parties to file statements about what action the court should take to complete the resolution of the appeal.

  • March 31, 2026

    Pollution And Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, Panel Says

    HOUSTON — An additional insured is not entitled to coverage for business interruption losses caused by quarantine orders issued in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic because the commercial property policy’s pollution and contamination exclusion bars coverage, the 14th Texas Court of Appeals said March 31 in affirming a trial court’s ruling in favor of the insurer on breach of contract and extracontractual claims.

  • March 30, 2026

    High Court Denies Review Of Role Of Independent Contractor Payments In PPP Loan

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari by a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan recipient seeking review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel decision that affirmed a Louisiana federal court ruling upholding the refusal by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to forgive a portion of a loan that had been based on payments the loan recipient made to its independent contractors the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • March 30, 2026

    Judge Refuses To Reconsider Excluding Union Members From COVID-Grant Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Concluding that a labor union had failed to identify either clear error or manifest injustice in his ruling that excepted union members in Alaska and Jackson County, Ohio, from a grant of a preliminary injunction to block the mass termination of grants provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a District of Columbia federal judge denied the union’s motion for partial reconsideration.

  • March 30, 2026

    Stay Extended In States’ Suit To Block Termination Of COVID-Related Grants

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Pursuant to a joint motion of the parties, a Rhode Island federal judge extended until April 10 an existing stay in a lawsuit by several states seeking to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing a March 2025 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended.

  • March 30, 2026

    Would-Be Intervenors In Challenge To CDC Vaccine Changes File Notice Of Appeal

    BOSTON — A children’s advocacy group known for questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccinations and others who claim that their interests are not properly protected by the parties in a challenge to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s changes to vaccine recommendations and makeup of a vaccine advisory panel filed a notice of appeal to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of a Massachusetts federal court’s rulings denying their motion to intervene and granting a preliminary injunction.

  • March 24, 2026

    Client Alleges That Payroll Service Firm Improperly Retained CARES Act Tax Credits

    PHOENIX — A business sued an employment services organization with which it contracted for payroll tax services for breach of contract, claiming that the organization retained for three years Employee Retention Credits (ERC) that the business earned and did not pay it additional interest that accrued during the time the organization retained the ERCs.

  • March 24, 2026

    Supreme Court Denies Review Of School COVID-19 Policy Critic’s Free Speech Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 declined to review a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s affirmance of a Michigan federal district court ruling that school officials’ communications to the employer of a school parent and the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the parent’s criticism of a Michigan school district’s COVID-19 policy did not constitute adverse actions in violation of the parent’s free speech rights.

  • March 23, 2026

    High Court Hears Arguments On Whether Ballots May Be Received After Election Day

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 heard arguments as to whether 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 is, as the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found, preempted by federal law governing elections and the definition of Election Day (Michael Watson v. Republican National Committee, et al., No. 24-1260, U.S. Sup.).

  • March 23, 2026

    High Court Denies Police Officers’ Petition To Review COVID Shot Data Suit Toss

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by current and former police officers asking to address a circuit split regarding discovery and determine if a decision in an early 20th century smallpox case “should be limited or overturned in favor of a tiers-of-scrutiny approach in assessing First Amendment religious discrimination claims” while challenging the dismissal of claims that collection of their COVID-19 testing results and vaccination statuses violated federal and state law.

  • March 23, 2026

    Plaintiffs Alleging Injuries From COVID Countermeasures Appeal Dismissal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several 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 on March 20 filed a notice of appeal in a Washington federal court seeking review by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s ruling that the family members had not plausibly alleged that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was applying an incorrect standard for eligibility for Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program (CICP) benefits.

  • March 20, 2026

    Parties Agree To Dismiss ADA ‘Regarded As’ Claim Based On COVID Vaccination Status

    PITTSBURGH — The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal on March 19 in a lawsuit brought by a former employee under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claiming that her employer failed to accommodate what it perceived as the medical disability of being immunocompromised after she refused to become vaccinated for COVID-19.

  • March 18, 2026

    Settlement Reached In Suit For Refund Of CARES Act Employee Retention Credits

    BALTIMORE — In a lawsuit by a Maryland beauty salon seeking a refund of employee retention credits (ERC) it claims it earned under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economy Security (CARES) Act because of having suffered declines in gross receipts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Maryland federal magistrate judge on March 17 approved the parties’ status report indicating that they had reached a settlement but needed additional time to resolve the case.