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

Mealey's Coronavirus

June 02, 2025
Judge Grants Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss Retailer’s Suit Arising From Coronavirus

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a women’s fashion retailer’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking business interruption coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the policy terms unambiguously state that the policy does not cover losses resulting directly or indirectly from viruses pursuant to Tennessee law.
May 30, 2025
Masking Policy Retaliation Case Tossed; Constitutional Violations Not Established

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming federal judge granted the motion to dismiss of a school board and individual school board members in a lawsuit by school parents and a student alleging several constitutional violations by the school board in connection with its implementation of a masking policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 28, 2025
Tyson Supervisors, Executives Still On Hook For Claims In COVID Worker Deaths Case

DES MOINES, Iowa — Claims alleging gross negligence and fraud against supervisors and executives of Tyson Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. by families of workers who died from COVID-19 can be litigated after an Iowa Supreme Court panel reversed and remanded a dismissal.
May 22, 2025
Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, Texas Panel Says

AUSTIN, Texas — A contamination exclusion bars coverage for an insured’s claim seeking coverage for damages and losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus because the exclusion is not ambiguous and clearly includes viruses in its definition of contamination, the Third District Texas Court of Appeals said May 22 in affirming a trial court’s judgment in favor of the insurers.
May 20, 2025
U.S. High Court Refuses To Review Insurers’ Petition In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 19 denied insurers’ petition for a writ of certiorari asking it to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct,” leaving undisturbed a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ 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.
May 20, 2025
Supreme Court Rejects Insurer’s Challenge To Ruling In Favor Of Tribal Court Judges

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 19 declined an insurer’s invitation to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ holding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over it in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, refusing to review the appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of two tribal court judges on the alternative ground that the insurance policy at issue satisfies Montana v. United States’ consensual-relationship exception.
May 20, 2025
School Mask Mandate Not Proper Basis For Removal Of Board Members, Panel Rules

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Ruling that elected school board members could be removed only for nonfeasance of mandatory duties and not malfeasance or misfeasance, a panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in consolidated appeals affirmed the judgment of a trial court that quashed related petitions against two different school boards seeking the removal of board members for having instituted mask mandates in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 20, 2025
Rehearing Denied To ER Doctor Suspended For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied the petition of an emergency room doctor for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a panel opinion affirming the judgment of a Pennsylvania federal court, which granted summary judgment in favor of a hospital in the doctor’s lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) after the doctor was refused a religious exemption from a company-mandated COVID-19 vaccination and suspended.
May 19, 2025
Rhode Island Federal Judge Halts HHS Termination Of COVID-Related Grants

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge on May 16 granted a motion by several states for a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from implementing or enforcing a March 24 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended.
May 16, 2025
Attorney Fees Motion Deemed Premature After Defense Verdict In Pandemic Policy Case

ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri found premature an employee’s pro se motion to block any request for attorney fees or sanctions after a jury returned a verdict for her employer in her lawsuit challenging the organization’s pandemic policies.
May 16, 2025
6th Circuit Finds No Abuse Of Discretion In Long COVID LTD Benefits Denial

CINCINNATI — Ruling against a claimant who said in her opening brief that “this appears to be the first ‘Long COVID’ disability case to come before the Court,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 15 affirmed a judgment upholding denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits, concluding that the insurer’s “decision was neither procedurally nor substantively unreasonable.”
May 14, 2025
Class Denied, University Pandemic Closure Suit Dismissed Following Remand

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied certification of a previously certified class in a lawsuit by the parent of an Emory University student and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the complaint that sought money back after classes and services were impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
May 14, 2025
Insurer Gets LTD Benefits Case Transferred To Different California Federal Court

SAN FRANCISCO — An Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit in which a claimant who says she has “disabling symptoms” of long COVID is challenging denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) and life insurance waiver of premium (LWOP) benefits will be transferred to a different federal court in California after a judge considered “deference owed to Plaintiff’s choice of forum, convenience, and the local interest in the case.”
May 13, 2025
6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Ruling In Air, Space Force Members’ Vaccine Case

CINCINNATI — A trial court properly dismissed as moot 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 after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated as moot the preliminary injunction previously issued in the case, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 12 in an unpublished opinion.
May 13, 2025
Vaccine Refusal Discrimination Claim Restored Based On Recent Circuit Decision

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Acknowledging that her prior dismissal of a former employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim to the extent it was based on her “body-as-a-temple” religious belief could no longer stand in view of a recent decision of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a South Carolina federal judge granted the employee’s motion for partial reconsideration and restored that aspect of her claim of religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from her refusal to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as mandated by the employer.
May 12, 2025
Pennsylvania Court Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Suit Arising From Coronavirus

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of commercial property insurers in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, concluding that the insured failed to establish that it incurred “direct physical loss or damage to any of its properties” to trigger coverage.
May 09, 2025
Religious COVID-19 Vaccination Exemption Suit Dismissed Per Stipulation Of Parties

DETROIT — Pursuant to the stipulation of a health insurance company and a former employee who alleged that she was wrongly denied a religious exemption from the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, a Michigan federal judge on May 8 dismissed with prejudice the employee’s claims.
May 08, 2025
CFPB’s Allegations Against Credit Reporting Agency Largely Survive Dismissal Bid

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by a credit reporting agency in a lawsuit brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) alleging several violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) in dealing with consumer disputes of credit report information.
May 08, 2025
5th Circuit: Texas District Not Wrong To Fire Teacher Over Absence After COVID

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed that a Texas school district did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing a teacher who did not return to her classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic because of concerns about contracting the virus, citing failure to meet the burdens for proving the claims.
May 07, 2025
En Banc Rehearing Denied In Case Challenging NLRB Impasse, Terms Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by Hood River Distillers Inc. after a split panel denied the employer’s petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision in a case in which the company alleged that it reached an impasse while trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and accused the union of engaging in delay tactics before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
May 06, 2025
R.I. High Court Upholds Attorney Fees Award In Suit Over Open Meeting Access

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s ruling granting an individual $2,500 in attorney fees after the lower court determined that a fire district violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by holding a public meeting online and not allowing remote viewers to participate in real time.
May 05, 2025
Whether Parent’s Speech At School Board Meeting Was True Threat Is A Jury Question

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Finding that the question of whether a school parent’s statements at school board meetings were protected by the First Amendment was a question for the jury, an Iowa federal judge on May 2 denied a school district’s summary judgment motion in the parent’s lawsuit alleging that the school district deprived him of his First Amendment rights in banning him from attending school board meetings.
May 02, 2025
Stay Granted In Lawsuit Seeking Final Determination On PPP Loan Forgiveness

FORT WORTH, Texas — In a lawsuit by a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) recipient alleging wrongdoing on the part of the lender in arranging the loan and partly denying loan forgiveness and seeking a final determination on forgiveness from the Small Business Administration (SBA), a Texas federal court on May 1 granted the government’s motion for a 60-day stay to allow it to arrive at a final determination on the loan.
May 01, 2025
5th Circuit Denies Rehearing For Shriners Employees Fired Over Vaccine Refusal

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc that several Shriners Hospital for Children employees who were fired for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine filed seeking reconsideration of a ruling dismissing federal and state claims against their former employer.
May 01, 2025
Injunction Sought In Lawsuit To Stop Termination Of COVID-Related Federal Grants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of municipalities and a labor union on April 30 moved a Rhode Island federal court for a preliminary injunction after filing suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its acting director alleging that the mass termination of federal grants that were a response to the COVID-19 pandemic is unlawful.