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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • July 26, 2024

    9th Circuit: Library COVID Mask Policy Dispute Properly Resolved By Trial Court

    SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Washington federal judge’s dismissal of a city and its police officers and grant of summary judgment to a library district in a library patron’s lawsuit claiming Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other civil rights violations stemming from his refusal to wear a mask in a library and the response of the police and library staff.

  • July 24, 2024

    AI Discrimination Claims By Expelled Student Must Be Arbitrated, Judge Says

    MIAMI — A testing program company’s user agreement is not unconscionable and requires arbitration of claims alleging that its artificial intelligence program improperly identified a test taker as cheating based on her disability, but the former student has not shown that she can sustain discrimination claims against the university that used the testing program, a federal judge in Florida said.

  • July 23, 2024

    9th Circuit: California High Court’s Answer Resolves Appeal In Insurer’s Favor

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 22 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of an insurer after the California Supreme Court answer “no” to the panel’s certified question and found that the “actual or potential presence of the COVID-19 virus on an insured's premises generally does not constitute ‘direct physical loss or damage to property’ for purposes of coverage under a commercial property insurance policy.”

  • July 22, 2024

    Contamination, Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Coronavirus Losses

    TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Court of Appeals on July 19 affirmed a trial court’s ruling in favor of all-risk insurers that denied coverage for COVID-19 losses sustained by an insured because the policies’ contamination or pollution exclusion bars coverage for any contamination, seepage or pollution that endangers or threatens to endanger the health, safety or welfare of individuals.

  • July 19, 2024

    Retailer Settles EEOC Suit Over Employee’s COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Beliefs

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — A furniture retailer will pay $110,000 to end a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that accused the employer of failing to accommodate an employee’s request for religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and then fired her for failure to be vaccinated, according to a consent decree signed by a federal judge in Florida on July 18.

  • July 17, 2024

    Fact Issues Remain On Whether Pollution Exclusion Applies To Coronavirus Losses

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of the applicability of a pollution and contamination exclusion after determining that questions of fact exist as to whether the exclusion bars coverage for business losses sustained by an insured in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the judge granted the insurer’s motion on a bad faith claim after determining that the claim cannot survive because a legitimate coverage dispute exists.

  • July 17, 2024

    $2.5 Million Walmart COVID-19 Screening Settlement Approved

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted final approval of a $2.5 million settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Associates Inc. (together, Walmart) to end a class complaint seeking compensation under Arizona law for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screening before each shift.

  • July 15, 2024

    Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Manufacturer’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 12 affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in a manufacturer insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is “unpersuaded” that the adsorption of coronavirus particles constitutes physical loss or damage under both the policy language and Connecticut law.

  • July 15, 2024

    California High Court Dismisses Tribe’s Appeal In Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court dismissed an Indian tribe insured’s appeal of a state appellate court’s finding that the insured and its experts failed to present sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the coronavirus caused property damage to the tribe’s casino and resort.

  • July 12, 2024

    Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Television Producer’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 11 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a television series producer insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses incurred from coronavirus-related disruptions and delays in the production of its show, rejecting the insured’s contention that the lower court should have permitted it to present extrinsic evidence before it granted the insurer’s motion.

  • July 12, 2024

    Clothing Boutique, Insurer Withdraw 2nd Circuit Appeal In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — An insurer and its clothing boutique owner insured stipulated that the insured’s appeal in its breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking business interruption and property damage coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown orders has been withdrawn with prejudice from the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • July 12, 2024

    6th Circuit Upholds Arbitration Determination In Pilots’ Vaccine Mandate Case

    CINCINNATI — Religious and disability bias claims by Kalitta Air LLC pilots who filed a putative class complaint challenging their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate required interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement’s terms, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming the trial court’s ruling that the claims must go through arbitration first as minor disputes pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (RLA).

  • July 10, 2024

    Company Not Required Under ADA To Provide Remote Work Option To Freight Dispatcher

    MACON, Ga. — A Georgia federal court on July 9 granted the summary judgment motion of a lawn products company in an action by a former employee alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in failing to provide her with a reasonable accommodation after she was stricken with a chronic respiratory condition that ensued after a bout of COVID-19, ruling that her position undisputedly required on-site work and that the company was not required to provide a remote-work accommodation.

  • July 10, 2024

    6th Circuit Partially Vacates Dismissal Of Cleaning Agent-Related Disability Claims

    CINCINNATI — A former Shelby County, Tenn., deputy jailer may proceed with some of her disability claims related to medical reactions she experienced to a cleaning agent initially used in 2013 and continuing past 2020 when the use of the cleaner increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in a July 9 unpublished order.

  • July 09, 2024

    Air Force, Space Force Members Tell 6th Circuit COVID-19 Vaccine Case Not Moot

    CINCINNATI — A class complaint by members of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons in which a classwide preliminary injunction was vacated as moot by the U.S. Supreme Court must be permitted to proceed as “the case, unlike the preliminary injunction, is not moot,” the service members argue in an appellant brief filed July 8 in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • July 09, 2024

    8th Circuit Reinstates Health Worker’s Religious Bias Vaccine Mandate Case

    GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A physical therapist who accuses her employer of discrimination related to requirements for workers who were granted religious exemptions from the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate may proceed with her claims as “all reasonable inferences” must be granted in the employee’s favor and the court “cannot assume at this early juncture that religious discrimination did not occur because one subset of potential comparators also faced disparate treatment,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.

  • July 08, 2024

    Texas Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Restaurants’ Suit Arising From Pandemic

    DALLAS — A Texas appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s grant of a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment in two restaurant group insureds’ lawsuit seeking coverage for their business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, concluding that the insureds failed to present “more than a scintilla of evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact that COVID-19 caused ‘direct physical loss of or damage to’” to their restaurants.

  • July 08, 2024

    8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Religious Bias Claims

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A 3M Co. worker who cited his religious beliefs when he opposed the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate but later abandoned the argument failed to show that he was discriminated against due to his religion, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled July 5.

  • July 08, 2024

    Federal Judge: No Class Certification In COVID Shot Stock Loss Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion for class certification in a securities dispute brought by investors who claim that a biotechnology company, a hedge fund that backed it and others issued false statements about a COVID-19 vaccine in a massive stock pump-and-dump scheme, saying that both the investors and the hedge fund failed to grapple with the unique issues the case presents.

  • July 08, 2024

    Split 8th Circuit Panel Upholds $14.6M PPE Refund For Violations Of FTC Act

    ST. LOUIS — A divided panel of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Missouri federal court’s order permanently enjoining a personal protective equipment (PPE) retailer from any further sales of PPE and ordering the retailer to turn over $14,651,185.42 to the Federal Trade Commission to be used as equitable relief for violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Mail, Internet or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule in failing to fulfill orders within the retailer’s advertised timeframe during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • July 08, 2024

    Ferry Authority To 1st Circuit: Workers Likely Won’t Succeed With Vaccine Claims

    BOSTON — A trial court properly denied a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction filed by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority who sued after their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied as the workers failed to show any likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, the authority and its director of Human Resources argue in an appellee brief filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • July 05, 2024

    Doctor Seeks To Reargue That COVID-Era Malpractice Claim Is Procedurally Deficient

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A physician filed a motion in Connecticut state court seeking to reargue her contention that an opinion letter necessary to support a malpractice claim of a patient alleging that her head injury was misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis during the COVID-19 pandemic was insufficient, arguing that the complaint falsely stated that she was a nonspecialist and that the opinion letter was not written by a sufficiently similar health care provider and, thus, that her motion to dismiss was erroneously denied.

  • June 28, 2024

    High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.

  • June 28, 2024

    Majority Affirms Dismissal Of Suit Seeking $192M In Losses Arising From Coronavirus

    NEW ORLEANS — A majority of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 27 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of a commercial property insurer in Texas’ largest nonprofit health system’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its $192 million in business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus, but the dissenting judge found that the case is distinct because the insured pleaded tangible alterations to its property.

  • June 27, 2024

    On Remand, Judge Dismisses Ski Resort Passholders’ COVID-19 Closure Claims

    DENVER — On remand from the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a Colorado federal judge again dismissed season passholders’ lawsuit against ski resort owners for refusing to refund their purchases after abruptly ending the season due to COVID-19, finding that the resorts’ contracts with passholders prohibited refunds and the passholders failed to plead a violation of various states’ consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).