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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • December 16, 2024

    PPE Reseller Says No Factual Dispute Exists As To Suppliers’ Contractual Failure

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical equipment company against a health care product distributor and its CEO seeking the return of a $323,640 down payment for a shipment of nitrile gloves it never received, the company moved a New York federal court for summary judgment, contending that there are no undisputed issues of material fact regarding the distributor’s failures to fulfill its contractual obligations and that its defense of commercial impracticability fails.

  • December 16, 2024

    United Tells 5th Circuit Class Incorrectly Certified In Vaccine Mandate Suit

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Texas erred in partially granting a motion for class certification filed by United Airlines Inc. employees in a case over the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s commonality, predominance or superiority requirements were not satisfied, United Airlines argues in an appellant/cross-appellee brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • December 16, 2024

    N.C. Supreme Court: Retailer’s COVID-19 Loss Excluded By Policy As Contamination

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Ruling that a contamination exclusion in a clothing retailer insured’s “all-risk” commercial insurance policy excluded the insured’s claimed losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Dec. 13 — while disagreeing with its reasoning — affirmed the judgment of a state appellate court, which in turn affirmed a trial court’s dismissal of the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage under the policy for its losses.

  • December 16, 2024

    N.C. High Court Rules COVID-19 Lockdowns Caused Restaurants’ Direct Physical Loss

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court on Dec. 13 reversed the judgment of a state appellate court that had reversed a trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of restaurant insureds in a COVID-19 coverage dispute, concluding that the restaurants’ insurance policies did not “unambiguously bar coverage when government orders and threatened viral contamination deprived the policyholder restaurants of their ability to physically use and physically operate property at their insured business premises.”

  • December 12, 2024

    Religious Discrimination In, Disability Discrimination Out In COVID Vaccine Suit

    PORTLAND, Ore. — In a lawsuit by a former employee alleging that her employer failed to make a good faith effort to accommodate her religious beliefs and medical disability, both of which led her to decline a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and caused her dismissal, an Oregon federal judge on Dec. 11 adopted the findings and recommendation of a magistrate judge and granted the employer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the employee’s disability discrimination claim but denied the motion as to the employee’s religious discrimination claim.

  • December 11, 2024

    No Coverage Owed For Regal Cinemas’ Coronavirus Losses, 9th Circuit Affirms

    PASADENA, Calif.— The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of insurers in Regal Cinemas’ breach of contract lawsuit seeking recovery for its revenue losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that, pursuant to New York law, Regal Cinemas was not insured for its alleged business losses.

  • December 10, 2024

    Panel: Reservation Court Has Jurisdiction In Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over an insurance company in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the coronavirus pandemic, affirming a lower federal court on the alterative ground that the insurance policy at issue satisfies Montana’s consensual-relationship exception.

  • December 10, 2024

    PPE Seller’s Lawsuit Against Postal Service Stemming From Hacked Email Settles

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and a personal protective equipment (PPE) seller it contracted with to purchase PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic on Dec. 9 filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice of a lawsuit brought by the seller alleging that the USPS failed to pay it for two shipments of PPE after a third party commandeered the seller’s email system and persuaded the USPS to direct payments to a different bank account.

  • December 10, 2024

    Retail Furniture Insured Voluntarily Dismisses Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — A retail furniture insured filed a notice in a federal court in Pennsylvania to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses stemming from the forced closure of its business in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • December 09, 2024

    Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Convention Center’s Suit Arising From Pandemic

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a federal court’s ruling that granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the insured fails to show that coverage exists for its losses under the policy’s Civil or Military Authority provision and further concluding that the policy's contamination exclusion precludes coverage.

  • December 05, 2024

    Doctor Entitled To Almost $98K In Attorney Fees For Success On Disability Claim

    SAN FRANCISCO — A pediatrician who successfully prevailed on her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits based on her high risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus is entitled to $97,965 in attorney fees and $625 in costs because the pediatrician succeeded on the merits of her disability claim and the disability insurer presented no special circumstances that would warrant against an award, a California federal judge said in granting the pediatrician’s motion for attorney fees and costs.

  • December 05, 2024

    Hydroxychloroquine Seller’s Contract Claims Survive Maker’s Bid For Dismissal

    TRENTON, N.J. — Applying the economic loss doctrine to a pharmaceutical supplier’s allegations that a manufacturer committed fraud as to a contract for the purchase of large quantities of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate in refusing to accept returns of and provide refunds for unsold products, a New Jersey federal judge on Dec. 4 granted the manufacturer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in part, dismissing the fraud claims and a claim for indemnification, but granted the supplier’s cross-motion for leave to file a second amended complaint to clarify counts alleging that the manufacturer was in breach of certain contractual clauses.

  • December 04, 2024

    Bank Denies Discrimination In Alleged Improper Denial Of COVID-19 Mortgage Relief

    JACKSON, Miss. — Contending that there is a complete lack of evidence of discriminatory conduct on its part, an Illinois mortgage servicer has moved a Mississippi federal court for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a Mississippi homeowner alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) after the servicer foreclosed on her home without offering mortgage modifications sought by the homeowner after experiencing income loss due to her divorce and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • December 03, 2024

    Following John’s Grill, Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In COVID-19 Suit

    SAN DIEGO — Reconsidering its earlier holding in favor of a diner insured in light of John's Grill, Inc. v. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., a California appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in the diner’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its business losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • December 03, 2024

    Costs Approved After University’s Pandemic Closure Class Settlement Finalized

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania approved litigation expenses in a student’s class lawsuit over the transition of in-person to online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic; the order was filed just over a week after the $1,153,880 settlement was granted final approval.

  • November 26, 2024

    High Court To Review Delegated Oversight Of Telecommunications Subsidies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has granted two petitions for a writ of certiorari and consolidated cases concerning whether Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine by authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to delegate a subsidy program to a private entity, both arising out of the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine.”

  • November 22, 2024

    COMMENTARY: 2024 Key Insurance Decisions, Trends & Developments & A Look Ahead To 2025

    By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova

  • November 22, 2024

    Issues Of Accommodation, Hardship In Vaccine Religious Refusal Case Left To Jury

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal court denied the partial summary judgment motion of a former employee of a resort and denied in part and granted in part the resort’s motion for summary judgment in the employee’s lawsuit claiming religious discrimination by failing to accommodate his objection to being vaccinated for COVID-19 and subjecting him to disparate treatment.

  • November 22, 2024

    Insurer Contests $12M Jury Verdict Won By Employee Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine

    DETROIT — After a Michigan federal jury awarded the former employee of a medical insurer nearly $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages after finding the insurer liable for discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objection to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the insurer filed motions for judgment as a matter of law, new trial and remittitur.

  • November 21, 2024

    Question Of Whether COVID-Era Restroom Door Handle Was Obvious Danger Left For Jury

    TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal magistrate judge denied a department store’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a customer who injured her arm and hand while trying to open the store’s restroom door using a “hands-free” door handle installed during the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling that whether the door handle presented an open and obvious hazard was a question for the jury, but granted the store’s motion for summary judgment as to punitive damages.

  • November 21, 2024

    High Court Dismisses Petition By Resort Patron Seeking Maskless Entry During COVID

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismissed the petition for writ of certiorari of a would-be resort patron seeking review of a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision affirming a New Jersey federal court that granted the resort’s motion to dismiss the patron’s disability discrimination lawsuit for lack of standing.

  • November 20, 2024

    Split Panel Rules No Federal Question In Assisted Living COVID Death, Remand Proper

    ATLANTA — A split panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of a Florida federal court remanding to state court a lawsuit brought by the personal representatives of a woman who died from COVID-19 in an assisted living facility alleging that the facility failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, finding that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act was not a complete preemption statute, nor was any other federal question invoked that would confer jurisdiction on the federal court.

  • November 20, 2024

    Insured Seeks Coverage For Disparagement Suit Brought By Maker Of COVID Test

    PHILADELPHIA — An insured sued its commercial umbrella insurer in a Pennsylvania federal court seeking personal and advertising coverage for an underlying disparagement lawsuit alleging that it sent 19,000 letters to Chester County residents asserting that the COVID-19 test kits they used were unreliable.

  • November 18, 2024

    Philadelphia Eagles Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — The owner and operator of the Philadelphia Eagles football organization moved for a Pennsylvania federal court to reconsider the dismissal of its action seeking a declaration as to coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that the present lawsuit “is unlike any other that already has been decided and warrants proceeding past a motion to dismiss.”

  • November 04, 2024

    COMMENTARY: Lady Justice May Be Blind, But Her Courts Aren’t: Gender Bias And Barriers To Representation For Female Plaintiffs

    By Sophie Zavaglia