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

Mealey's Coronavirus

March 14, 2024
Pepperdine Seeks Summary Judgment Reconsideration In Pandemic Closure Class Case

LOS ANGELES — Pepperdine University filed a motion on March 13 for reconsideration of its summary judgment motion that was partially granted and partially denied just over a year ago in a class action by students seeking partial refunds for tuition fees and room and board after the school transitioned to online learning in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the school argues that Berlanga et al. v. University of San Francisco clarified the standard of review to be used in such a case.
March 13, 2024
Widener University Student Files Class Suit Seeking Prorated Pandemic Refunds

PHILADELPHIA — Widener University breached its contracts with students and was unjustly enriched when it failed to provide prorated refunds for tuition and fees after the school shuttered on-campus teaching, services and amenities and transitioned to remote teaching in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a student alleges in her putative class complaint filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania.
March 13, 2024
Judge Strikes Expert Testimony, Denies Class Certification In Suit Against GEICO

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on March 12 granted insurers’ motion to strike the insureds’ expert testimony and denied the insureds’ motion for certification of two classes in their lawsuit alleging that the insurers violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by charging “excessive” premiums during the COVID-19 pandemic that failed to account for a dramatic reduction in driving, finding that the insureds failed to establish predominance to warrant class certification.
March 13, 2024
Appeals Court: Calif. Restaurants’ Pandemic Alcohol License Fee Class Claims Fail

LOS ANGELES — Class claims by California restaurants against the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) for its failure to refund fees paid during the COVID-19 pandemic when the use of restaurants’ licenses was limited do not constitute petitions for a writ of mandate that an appellate court would have jurisdiction over and are not claims over which a trial court has jurisdiction, a California appellate panel ruled in an unpublished opinion, affirming dismissal by the trial court.
March 12, 2024
Insurers Tell N.C. High Court To Apply 27-Year-Old Precedent To Coronavirus Dispute

RALEIGH, N.C. — Insurers argued to the North Carolina Supreme Court that it should affirm an appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of restaurant insureds in a COVID-19 coverage dispute, responding to the insured’s appellant argument that the phrase “physical loss or physical damage” includes loss of the physical use of property under the state’s “long-standing principles of insurance contract interpretation.”
March 11, 2024
Majority: Court Erred In Denying Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss COVID-19 Coverage Suit

RICHMOND, Va. — A majority of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 8 held that a lower federal court erred when it denied an insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s coverage lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, reversing both the lower court’s order denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss and its class certification order and remanding with instructions to dismiss the lawsuit.
March 08, 2024
9th Circuit Panel Says Challenge To California COVID Misinformation Law Is Moot

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the decision of a California federal court denying a preliminary injunction sought by physicians to prevent the enforcement of a California medical professional COVID-19 misinformation statute that had since been repealed, remanding the case along with a similar case consolidated with the appeal, with instructions to dismiss both cases as moot.
March 08, 2024
2nd Circuit Dismisses Coronavirus Coverage Suit After Appeal Withdrawn

NEW YORK — Four days after a commercial property insurer and a commercial landlord insured stipulated that the insured’s appeal in a coronavirus coverage suit was withdrawn with prejudice, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
March 06, 2024
Washington Judge Partly Grants Insurer’s Motion For Clarification In COVID-19 Suit

SEATTLE —Partly granting an insurer’s motion for partial clarification or reconsideration of a Jan. 4 order denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss the University of Washington’s lawsuit seeking coverage for losses allegedly incurred by its medical and athletic properties in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a Washington judge held that the university has pleaded facts to trigger its medical centers’ policies’ communicable disease decontamination cost endorsements; its coverage claims under the athletic properties’ policies are not dismissed and its claims for coverage are not limited to the medical center policies’ time element losses due to contamination by communicable disease endorsements.
March 06, 2024
English Justice Denies Summary Judgment As To Coverage Issue In COVID-19 Suit

LONDON — A justice of the High Court of England and Wales denied summary judgment to two restaurant chains on the issue of coverage for their business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic but granted summary judgment and permission to appeal the policy construction issue.
March 05, 2024
9th Circuit: Pilot’s Appeal In Challenge To Airport Masking Rule Is Untimely

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal of an airline pilot seeking review of a Washington federal court decision dismissing his complaint alleging that he was racially profiled and unlawfully detained by airport police officers in their attempt to enforce the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) COVID-19 masking policy as the pilot passed through security on the way to his flight, concluding that the notice of appeal had not been filed within 30 days of the trial court’s judgment.
March 05, 2024
Class, Hospitals Ask 6th Circuit To Uphold Vaccine Mandate Settlement

CINCINNATI — A class of hospital employees and their employer who reached a $130,000 nationwide settlement in a case over the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy filed separate appellee briefs in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to uphold the settlement approval being challenged on appeal by objectors.
March 04, 2024
PPP Loan Forgiveness Case Dismissed After Attorney Fails To Withdraw

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge on March 1 dismissed without prejudice a case in which a mental health treatment facility sought de novo review of a decision of the Small Business Administration (SBA) denying forgiveness for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan after the facility’s attorney failed to withdraw from the case as ordered due to his suspension from practice by the Louisiana Supreme Court.
March 04, 2024
Ferry Workers Ask 1st Circuit To Reverse Injunction Denial In Vaccine Case

BOSTON — A trial court erred its standard of review selection and abused its discretion when it denied for a second time a request for preliminary injunction by employees of a Massachusetts ferry operations authority who sued after their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied, the workers argue in their appellant brief filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 01, 2024
Tribal Court Has Jurisdiction Over Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit, 9th Circuit Affirms

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 29 affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a coronavirus coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land that the Suquamish Tribe brought against “nonmember, off-reservation” insurers that participate in a program that is tailored to and offered exclusively to tribes.
March 01, 2024
Termination Over COVID-19 Policy Was Not Tied To Man’s Native American Heritage

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey county and local union are entitled to summary judgment on claims brought against them by a man who says he was terminated from his employment with the county because of his Native American “cultural” opposition to a COVID-19 vaccination policy because the man failed to show that the termination was related to his race or national identity, a New Jersey federal judge found Feb. 29 in granting the county’s and union’s summary judgment motions.
March 01, 2024
City Seeks Rehearing In Coverage Suit Over Tax Revenue Losses Arising From Pandemic

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri city asked the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that a commercial property insurer owes no coverage for the city’s tax revenue losses due to governmental closure orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the “inartful” policy is not clear and unambiguous.
February 29, 2024
Indiana Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Purdue’s Suit Arising From Coronavirus

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals court on Feb. 28 affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of an all-risks commercial insurer in the Trustees of Purdue University’s declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that Purdue’s claim does not fall under the unambiguous policy coverage for physical property loss or damage.
February 28, 2024
Judge: SBA Properly Denied Loan Forgiveness To PPP Borrower Not Initially Eligible

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 Feb. 27 denied the dealer’s motion to alter or amend his opinion upholding the SBA’s decisions, ruling that the SBA’s loan review process “protects taxpayers from footing the bill for loans issued to ineligible parties” and that the SBA was authorized to enact that process.
February 27, 2024
Oregon Seeks Rehearing After 9th Circuit Ruling In Prisoner Vaccine Case

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel created intra- and inter-circuit conflict with a decision denying Oregon’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to quash a trial court’s order compelling the deposition of the former governor in a class lawsuit by prisoners suing over the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations and deaths due to the virus, the state argues in a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc.
February 27, 2024
Judge: PREP Act Applies To Class Action Alleging Injuries From COVID-19 Drug

LOS ANGELES — Patients and their family members who allege injuries after being prescribed and ingesting an antiviral drug used to treat severe COVID-19 symptoms saw their putative class action dismissed by a California federal judge who found that the manufacturer has immunity under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act).
February 23, 2024
Clinic That Denied Treatment To Maskless Patient Files Direct Threat Defense Brief

PORTLAND, Ore. — In a lawsuit by a former medical clinic patient against the clinic and some of its staff members alleging that their denial of treatment for his refusing to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic was in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the defendants on Feb. 22 submitted a brief as requested by an Oregon federal judge on whether it is appropriate to consider — on the defendants’ motion to dismiss — their defense that the accommodation sought by the patient presented a direct threat to clinic occupants and was not required to be provided.
February 23, 2024
$5.5 Million Settlement Reached In Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Cases

FRESNO, Calif. — California employees who brought class complaints that were later consolidated accusing Amazon.com Services LLC of failing to pay workers for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts filed a motion in a federal court in California seeking preliminary approval of a $5.5 million settlement.
February 23, 2024
Walmart’s $2.5M Settlement In COVID-19 Screening Case Preliminarily Approved

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted preliminary 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.
February 22, 2024
New Jersey Panel Affirms No Coverage Owed To YMCAs For Losses Arising From Pandemic

TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division on Feb. 21 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of commercial property and casualty insurers in a coverage dispute arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that YMCA insureds’ business interruption claims are restricted by their policies’ clear and plain meaning that the court cannot rewrite to cover the “unfortunate losses” they incurred.