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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • April 25, 2024

    PPP Borrower Appeals SBA Denial Of Loan Forgiveness Based On Initial Ineligibility

    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, the truck dealer on April 24 filed a notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a Texas federal judge’s rulings upholding the SBA’s decision and denying the dealer’s motion to alter or amend the opinion.

  • April 24, 2024

    3rd Circuit Lifts Stay In Ralph Lauren’s Appeal Of Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an order lifting a stay of Ralph Lauren Corp.’s appeal of a New Jersey federal court’s ruling in favor of its insurer in a coronavirus coverage dispute, referring the insured’s motion to vacate and remand to the motions panel.

  • April 23, 2024

    D.C. Panel Affirms No-Coverage Ruling For Restaurants’ Losses Arising From Pandemic

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia appeals court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by 10 restaurants and bars seeking coverage for their lost business income arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the virus did not cause a tangible change or alteration to the insureds’ property to establish “direct physical loss or damage” to trigger coverage.

  • April 23, 2024

    Maryland Beauty Salon Says IRS Owes It Payments For COVID Employee Retention Credits

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland beauty salon filed suit against the federal government seeking a refund of employee retention credits 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, along with attorney fees and costs.

  • April 22, 2024

    Suquamish Tribe Opposes Insurers’ Petition for Rehearing In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    SEATTLE —The Suquamish Tribe opposed insurers’ petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its Feb. 29 opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land, arguing that the insurers’ argument “distorts” the panel’s ruling and controlling law.

  • April 22, 2024

    Arkansas Jury Awards Walmart Supplier Over $100M In COVID Glove Deal Gone Bad

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas federal jury awarded a home goods supplier $101,218,680 against a national retail chain in the supplier’s breach of contract action alleging that the retailer reneged on a promise to purchase millions of boxes of nitrile gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic, offset by the retailer’s successful claim of tortious conduct by the supplier in the amount of $350,000 involving one of the retailer’s employees who was a central figure in the glove deal.

  • April 19, 2024

    SBA Says PPP Recipient Can’t Sue For Loan Forgiveness It Never Applied For

    MIAMI — The administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) moved a Florida federal court to dismiss the lawsuit of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan recipient seeking to force the SBA to come to a decision on the forgiveness of its loan, claiming that the loan recipient never applied for loan forgiveness.

  • April 18, 2024

    High Court Won’t Address Whether Habeas Is Proper For COVID-Related Prison Release

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari of a prison inmate seeking the review of a decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming a California federal court’s ruling that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the inmate’s habeas corpus petition alleging that conditions in the prison caused by COVID-19 rendered his custody to be unlawful.

  • April 15, 2024

    Alabama Unemployment Applicants Seek Reinstatement Of Suit Over Pandemic Delays

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the Alabama Supreme Court’s judgment upholding dismissal of a lawsuit over the delays in processing the large amount of applications filed due to the coronavirus pandemic for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as the case is resolved by Patsy v. Board of Regents, unemployment benefits applicants argue in their petitioner brief.

  • April 15, 2024

    COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Scrutiny Question Won’t Be Answered By U.S. High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 15 declined to answer a question posed by a Michigan State University (MSU) worker in putative class complaint concerning whether Jacobson v. Massachusetts requires that a governmental action such as a vaccine mandate is “subject to heightened scrutiny” and whether such a mandate by MSU failed that test.

  • April 11, 2024

    Judge: Employee Who Quit After Refusing COVID Tests Not Constructively Discharged

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge granted the motion of a Minnesota county to dismiss the complaint of a former county public defender alleging that she was constructively discharged from her position and resigned under duress after she refused to submit to COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccination as the county transitioned back to an in-office working environment, finding that the former employee failed to establish that she had suffered an adverse employment action.

  • April 11, 2024

    No Disparagement Alleged, No Advertising Injury Coverage Triggered, Panel Affirms

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that an underlying class action lawsuit brought against the manufacturer of Wipe Out! wipes and sprays failed to allege disparagement and, therefore, its general liability insurance policy’s personal and advertising injury coverage was not triggered, affirming a federal court’s dismissal of the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying allegations that it made false and misleading claims on the labels of three of its products.

  • April 10, 2024

    9th Circuit Partly Reverses Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 9 held that a lower federal court properly granted insurers’ motion to dismiss all claims in a coronavirus coverage dispute that include the triggering language “direct physical loss or damage” to restaurant and hotel insureds’ properties but reversed the lower court’s denial of leave to amend a claim under the Crisis Event provision, which, the panel noted, does not include any language regarding “direct physical loss or damage.”

  • April 10, 2024

    Consent Judgment OK’d After Summary Judgment Ruling In COVID-Testing Leave Case

    GREENVILLE, Miss. — A federal judge in Mississippi approved a consent judgment between the acting secretary of Labor and a cleaning company that will provide back pay and compensatory and liquidated damages to two workers terminated while on leave from work awaiting COVID-19 test results.

  • April 09, 2024

    Insurer Seeks Rehearing In Dispute Over $1M Settlement Of Canceled Music Festival

    NEW ORLEANS — An insurer filed a petition asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its reversal of a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in its favor in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $1 million class action settlement arising from its refusal to refund ticket sales for the South by Southwest festival that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging the panel’s finding that the policy’s contract and professional services exclusions do not bar coverage.

  • April 08, 2024

    Driver Appeals Grant Of Summary Judgment On UCL Claim For ‘Unfair’ COVID Premiums

    SAN FRANCISCO — A driver on April 5 appealed to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of GEICO after finding that it did not violate California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by unfairly profiting from a premium giveback program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • April 04, 2024

    Termination Of LTD Benefits Was Not Abuse Of Discretion, Judge Says

    ST. LOUIS — A disability plan’s termination of a claimant’s long-term disability benefits was not an abuse of discretion because the decision was reasonable based on the objective medical evidence, a Missouri federal judge said in partially granting the plan’s motion for summary judgment.

  • April 04, 2024

    United Customers Denied Class Certification In Pandemic Flight Cancellation Case

    CHICAGO — Certification of a class of United Airlines Inc. customers who sued for refunds rather than credits for travel canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic is inappropriate based on the necessary “individualized factual inquiries as to each class member’s itinerary, which could include over 200,000 such inquiries,” a federal judge in Illinois ruled in an opinion that also denied a motion to exclude expert testimony relevant to class certification and instructed parties to file a joint status report concerning a pending motion for summary judgment.

  • April 03, 2024

    Challenge To California Doctor COVID Misinformation Statute Rendered Moot By Repeal

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In related lawsuits 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, a California federal judge on April 2 granted state officials’ consolidated motion to dismiss both cases, finding that the repeal of the statute rendered the controversy moot.

  • April 03, 2024

    Connecticut Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Tribe’s Coronavirus Suit

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut appeals court on April 2 affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in an Indian tribe’s declaratory judgment lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the tribe’s contention that the lower court improperly determined that the policy’s contamination exclusion applied to bar the majority of its coverage.

  • April 03, 2024

    Rehearing Sought After 1st Circuit Finds Mass. Law Bars Pandemic Closure Suit

    BOSTON — Students who brought a class complaint against the trustees of Boston University (BU) for allegedly breaching the promise of in-person instruction and services after the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic filed a petition for panel or en banc rehearing after the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the retroactive application of a Massachusetts law signed into effect in August 2022 that bars such lawsuits does not violate the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.

  • April 02, 2024

    U.S. High Court Won’t Review Unemployment Denial After Vaccine-Related Firing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 1 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a worker challenging the denial of unemployment benefits after she was terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

  • April 01, 2024

    Washington Judge Certifies 2 Questions In University’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    SEATTLE — A Washington judge granted in part an insurer’s motion to certify issues to the Washington Court of Appeals for discretionary review in the University of Washington’s lawsuit seeking coverage for losses incurred by its medical and athletic properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staying the lawsuit pending resolution of the two controlling questions of law to determine whether commercial property insurance policies insure business income losses that are related to a pandemic.

  • April 01, 2024

    Federal Government Tells U.S. High Court Military Chaplains’ Vaccine Case Is Moot

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over an appeal by military chaplains challenging the denial of their requests for religious accommodation from a requirement that they be vaccinated against COVID-19, the secretary of Defense and other federal government officials argue in a response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the chaplains.

  • March 29, 2024

    Judge Accepts Officials’ Plea Agreements In Veterans Home COVID-19 Death Cases

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A former superintendent and a former medical director of a veterans home entered plea agreements in a Massachusetts state court for their roles in commingling COVID-19-symptomatic residents with asymptomatic residents, leading to 76 deaths, admitting that the charges against them sufficed to make a finding of guilt while agreeing to satisfy court-imposed conditions for three months.