Mealey's Coronavirus : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Coronavirus

January 04, 2024
Homeowner Alleges Bank Improperly Denied Mortgage Relief Needed During COVID-19

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi homeowner sued an Illinois mortgage servicer in Mississippi federal court alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act after the servicer foreclosed on her home without offering modifications to her mortgage terms the homeowner needed after experiencing income loss due to her divorce and the COVID-19 pandemic.
January 04, 2024
P.F. Chang’s Coverage For COVID-19 Losses Limited To $1M, California Panel Affirms

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court on Jan. 3 concluded that P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc.’s insurance policy language “clearly and unambiguously” provided only $1 million in coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, affirming a lower court’s ruling granting summary adjudication in favor of the insurer.
January 03, 2024
Parent: University’s Class Certification Appeal In Pandemic Case Is Premature

ATLANTA — Emory University’s appeal of a class certification ruling in a lawsuit by the parent of a student who seeks money back after classes and services were impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic is premature as the trial court is currently considering whether to alter or amend its order, the parent argues in an appellee brief filed in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 03, 2024
Amazon Worker Seeks Final Approval Of Pandemic Home-Based Expenses Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — An Amazon worker who sued seeking reimbursement for internet expenses incurred while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic filed a motion in a federal court in California for final approval of a $950,000 class settlement to be paid by Amazon.com Services LLC.
January 03, 2024
11th Circuit: Challenge To Expired COVID-19 Air Travel Restrictions Is Moot

ATLANTA — In a frequent air traveler’s appeal of a Florida federal court’s ruling that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s transportation mask mandate and international traveler COVID-19 testing requirement for reentering the country were valid exercises of its legislative authority, a panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a per curiam opinion vacated the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the CDC with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.
January 03, 2024
Workers, Walmart Reach $5.2M Class Settlement In COVID-19 Screening Suit

FRESNO, Calif. — Workers who sued Walmart Inc. in a federal court in California alleging that the retailer’s policy requiring nonexempt workers in California to undergo a COVID-19 screening each shift without pay violated state and federal wage-and-hour laws as well as California’s unfair competition law filed a motion for preliminary approval of a $5.2 million class settlement.
December 21, 2023
3rd Circuit: Suit Not ‘Ripe’ In Insurer’s Row With Care Homes Over COVID Coverage

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s grant of judgment for an insurer seeking a declaration that a nursing home’s COVID-19-related policies’ provision requiring the nursing home to pay the first $3 million in litigation and claims costs applies to multiple events, one for each facility, finding that the district court lacked jurisdiction to determine “whether COVID-19 constitutes multiple health care events” is “ripe for review.”
December 19, 2023
Air Purifier Makers Deny Making False Germ-Killing Claims To Prey On COVID Fears

SAN FRANCISCO — Two manufacturers of air purifiers filed a motion in California federal court to dismiss consumers’ putative class claims that they violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misleadingly marketing their products as capable of killing airborne pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic, denying that they made such claims.
December 06, 2023
N.J. Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Tory Burch LLC’s Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on Dec. 6 affirmed a lower court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss Tory Burch LLC’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive orders issued in response to the virus did not physically deprive the insured from possessing its property.
December 15, 2023
Virus Exclusion Unambiguously Bars Coverage, Panel Affirms In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for its business losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus and subsequent government shutdown orders, finding that the commercial insurance policy's virus exclusion unambiguously precludes coverage for the insured’s claims for loss and damage.
December 14, 2023
Government Waives Response To Petition In Case Challenging Military Vaccine Mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government on Dec. 13 waived its right to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by former members of the military whose challenge to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement while they were still active members was deemed moot due to their departure from the military and the termination of the mandate.
December 14, 2023
Magistrate Judge Orders Attorney Withdrawal In PPP Loan Forgiveness Denial Case

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal magistrate judge on Dec. 13 ordered the attorney representing a mental health treatment facility seeking de novo review of a decision of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with its denial of forgiveness for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to withdraw from representation of the facility after the attorney was indefinitely suspended from the federal bar of the District of New Mexico in a separate proceeding.
December 13, 2023
Judge: SBA Had Authority To Determine Borrower Was Never Eligible For PPP Loan

AMARILLO, Texas — In a lawsuit 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, a Texas federal judge on Dec. 12 granted the government’s cross-motion for summary judgment and denied the dealer’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the SBA did not exceed its statutory authority or act arbitrarily or capriciously in refusing loan forgiveness based on later-determined loan eligibility.
December 13, 2023
Panel: Insured’s Argument In COVID-19 Dispute ‘Runs Into A Wall Of Precedent’

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the shutdown of its event venue in response to the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the insured has failed to plausibly assert any “direct physical loss of or damage to” its property.
December 13, 2023
11th Circuit Denies Stay In Appeal Of Class Cert In School Pandemic Closure Case

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge in a two-page order denied a motion to stay an appeal by Emory University of a class certification ruling in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student who seeks money back after classes and services were impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
December 13, 2023
Parties Complete Mootness Briefing In California Doctor COVID Misinformation Cases

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and several other state officials brought by California physicians 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, the parties submitted supplemental briefs on mootness in light of the recent repeal of the legislation.
December 13, 2023
Judge: SBA Did Not Err In Rejecting Performing Arts Group’s Bid For COVID-19 Grant

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a cross-motion for summary judgment of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and denied a motion for summary judgment of a performing arts organization in the organization’s lawsuit alleging that the SBA illegally denied the organization’s application for a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) during the COVID-19 pandemic, concluding that the SBA acted reasonably in finding the organization to be ineligible for a grant.
December 12, 2023
Minnesota Panel: Insured Failed To Allege Coronavirus Was Present At Its Properties

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota appeals panel on Dec. 11 affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing an insured’s breach of contract lawsuit against its insurers, finding that the insured failed to assert that the coronavirus was present at and contaminated its insured casino and golf course properties and, therefore, it did not cause direct physical loss or damage.
December 12, 2023
Court Lacked Authority To Coordinate Not-Yet-Filed COVID-19 Coverage Suits

PITTSBURGH — A majority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 213.1 does not allow the coordination of actions that have not been filed at the time of the motion for coordination and that an insurer waived its argument that insureds were not entitled to seek coordination in the first place, affirming a Superior Court’s partial reversal of a lower court’s order coordinating coronavirus coverage lawsuits against Erie Insurance Exchange in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
December 12, 2023
Final Judgment Entered In Maine Health Workers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Challenge

BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge in Maine on Dec. 11 granted a motion for entry of final judgment by health care employers after dismissal of the claims against them by workers who refused the COVID-19 vaccine citing religious beliefs.
December 12, 2023
Dental Practice Incurred No Direct Physical Loss, Insurers Argue To Pa. High Court

PITTSBURGH — Insurers filed a reply brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court defending their appeal of a Pennsylvania Superior Court majority’s ruling that at the very least, it is reasonable to interpret the phrase “direct physical loss of . . . property” to encompass the loss of use of a dental practice’s property due to the spread of the coronavirus “absent any actual damage to property.”
December 12, 2023
Insured Failed To Show Coronavirus Is A Pollution Condition, Panel Says

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal on Dec. 11 affirmed a district court’s ruling that no coverage is owed to an insured for business interruption losses sustained as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic because the insured failed to show that the coronavirus qualifies as a pollution condition as required by the policy at issue.
December 12, 2023
California Judge Sustains Insurer’s Demurrer To Nonprofit’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit

LOS ANGELES — A California judge sustained an insurer’s demurrer to its nonprofit insured’s breach of contract, bad faith, negligent misrepresentation and declaratory relief complaint seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, holding that the coronavirus and the subsequent governmental orders “are inextricably intertwined.”
December 07, 2023
COMMENTARY: Fire & Rain: 2023 Key Decisions & Developments Impacting The Wide World Of Insurance

By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
December 11, 2023
U.S. High Court Grants Cert In Federal Vaccine Cases, Finds Case, Injunctions Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 granted petitions in three cases concerning various federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates and, citing United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., remanded with instructions to dismiss one of the cases as moot and to vacate as moot preliminary injunctions in the other two cases.