By Celeste Bott

Law360 (May 14, 2020, 8:10 PM EDT ) The maker of Lysol Disinfecting Wipes has been accused of stealing the patented packaging technology that keeps the suddenly sought-after cleaning wipes moist, a proposed class of restaurants says Grubhub has been running a false advertising campaign to redirect customers to its partner restaurants, and five major news outlets claim the U.S. Small Business Administration has illegally rebuffed public records requests regarding its Paycheck Protection Program.

While courts across the country are altering procedures, restricting access and postponing certain cases to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the outbreak has also prompted a wave of new litigation across the country.

Here's a breakdown of some of the COVID-19-related cases from the past week.

Public Policy

Five major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bloomberg, told a D.C. federal court Tuesday the SBA has "no basis" to withhold the information sought about its Paycheck Protection Program. 

The news outlets, along with investigative nonprofit ProPublica and Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones, said in their complaint that they had all requested SBA records that would identify and provide basic information about businesses that have received public assistance from the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. That public assistance includes both the PPP and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

But the SBA has either denied or constructively denied their records requests and requests for expedited processing — violations of the Freedom of Information Act, the news operations said.

Nine state attorneys general sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday in New York federal court over its new policy curtailing enforcement of clean air and water rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the policy encourages industrial pollution as people with respiratory and cardiovascular problems are getting sick.

The coalition says the Trump administration's new policy is exploiting the coronavirus crisis by letting companies violate the Clean Air, Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts if they can claim their noncompliance is linked to business troubles caused by the virus.

And a western New York law firm slapped with a cease-and-desist order by the state for continuing to allow employees to report to an office amid the COVID-19 pandemic has sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly abusing their power.

HoganWillig PLLC contends that executive orders signed by Cuomo in March that restricted business activities violated the U.S. Constitution, while James' "scare tactics" that the firm would face civil and criminal penalties should it not adhere with the orders violate the firm's rights under the Equal Protection Clause, according to Wednesday's complaint in the Western District of New York.

Intellectual Property

A packaging design company has accused the maker of Lysol Disinfecting Wipes of stealing its patented packaging technology that keeps the wipes moist, as the sought-after product flies off store shelves in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Perimeter Brand Packaging LLC, which licensed patented packaging to the Clorox Co. until 2015, accused Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser LLC of selling packaging designs that infringe its patents on methods for a moisture-retaining seal on an open-ended canister, according to the complaint filed in Delaware federal court.

And a digital health care startup called Healthvana is suing the company behind the "As Seen On TV" slogan for selling "over-priced" hand sanitizer under the plaintiff's name during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Healthvana Inc. accused Telebrands Corp. of violating federal trademark law by using the Healthvana name on $15 bottles of sanitizer, saying it had sparked a wave of backlash against the company from angry consumers.

Food and Beverage

Grubhub Inc. has been running a false advertising campaign telling customers that restaurants with which it does not work are closed during the coronavirus pandemic in order to redirect those customers to its partner restaurants, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Colorado federal court.

The food delivery app has been knowingly lying to customers to steer them to its partner restaurants by telling them that nonpartner competitors are either closed or not accepting online orders, even when they are, Denver bar and restaurant Freshcraft said in its proposed class action.

The family-owned restaurant filed suit on behalf of all restaurants in the U.S., claiming that Grubhub created landing pages for falsely advertising restaurants as being closed or not accepting online orders when they are in fact accepting orders. The suit seeks to bar Grubhub from continuing its alleged false advertising and to make it pay damages to the restaurants it has purportedly lied about.

Native American 

A D.C. federal judge on Monday rejected a bid to force the Treasury Department to deliver $3.2 billion it still owes tribal governments to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but said that a further delay of two months "will not be acceptable" and that one month past a lapsed deadline might be pushing it.

U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and other tribes had not shown Treasury's failure to deliver the full $8 billion it owes tribes under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act had gone so far past the law's April 26 deadline that he should compel the department to send the money.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in California, the Ak-Chin Indian Community in Arizona and six other tribes filed an amended complaint earlier this month, saying they would suffer irreparable harm, including cutting off essential services and laying off staff, unless Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin immediately disbursed the $8 billion in direct tribal coronavirus relief funding in the $2 trillion CARES Act.

Insurance

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Thursday denied a Pittsburgh restaurant's bid to skip straight to the state's highest court to decide if insurers should cover business losses due to the coronavirus pandemic and its related state-ordered shutdowns.

Attorneys for Joseph Tambellini Inc. said they had hoped the court would help streamline the process of determining whether COVID-19 losses were covered, but insurers like Erie insisted that each contract and every business's circumstances were different and could not benefit from broad rulings at the highest level.

Insurance companies continue to face lawsuits like the one a San Francisco-based children's clothing boutique hit Travelers Casualty Insurance Co. with in California federal court Monday, accusing the insurer of wrongfully denying small businesses coverage for losses resulting from government-mandated shutdowns related to COVID-19.

In its proposed class action, Mudpie Inc. says thousands of retailers across the Golden State have been forced to close their doors due to shutdown orders through no fault of their own, yet the Hartford, Connecticut-based insurance company and others are categorically denying them coverage despite premiums paid for business interruption policies.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Zoom's lax security allowed a "known offender" to commandeer a web-based Bible study class and "Zoombomb" its participants with "traumatizing" pornography, a San Francisco church alleged in a proposed class action filed Wednesday in California federal court.

Saint Paulus Lutheran Church and Bible study group leader Heddi N. Cundle hit Zoom Video Communications Inc. with a suit claiming the company failed to take necessary steps to keep an intruder from hacking into a May 6 class and causing pornographic content to play "on all participants' computers in a full-screen mode and with loud audio."

The lawsuit, which was brought on behalf of anyone who used Zoom "during the applicable limitations period," makes claims of negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment as well as violations of California consumer protection and privacy laws. The church and Cundle claim that in addition to failing to secure the May 6 Bible study meeting, Zoom has also shared users' data without permission and has engaged in other illegal business practices.

Personal Injury

Texas grocery giant HEB has been sued over a safety measure meant to protect its own employees from exposure to the coronavirus, with a customer alleging the shoddy installation of a protective screen is to blame for her serious foot injuries.

HEB LP was named in the lawsuit filed in Texas state court by shopper May Homsy, who is seeking as much as $1 million in damages for injuries stemming from the incident in which a Plexiglas partition fell on her left foot, causing an injury that eventually required surgery, according to the complaint.

And a New York couple who spent March aboard a cruise ship filed a proposed class action Wednesday against Celebrity Cruises Inc. in Miami federal court, alleging that the company knew it was putting passengers' lives at risk as its crew served up buffets, held dances and packed its decks for a salute to health workers treating COVID-19.

Fred and Marlene Kantrow claim in their suit — which included photographic evidence of the activities — that among the roughly 2,500 passengers and 750 crew members they sailed with in March aboard the Celebrity Eclipse, at least 45 individuals have since tested positive for the coronavirus, and at least two have died.

--Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath, Joyce Hanson, Lauren Berg, Bill Donahue, Mike LaSusa, Michelle Casady, Andrew Westney and Emilie Ruscoe. Editing by Peter Rozovsky.

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