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Mealey's Coronavirus

  • June 27, 2025

    Nondelegation Doctrine Not Violated By FCC Funding Scheme, Supreme Court Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 ruled 6-3 that a Federal Communications Commission subsidy program does not violate the doctrines of nondelegation or  “private nondelegation,” finding that the FCC’s delegations were properly guided by an “intelligible principle” set forth by Congress and reversing the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • June 26, 2025

    Insurer Was Not Contractually Bound To Provide COVID-19 Premium Relief, Judge Says

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge on June 25 granted an auto insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a claim alleging that the insurer breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by not sufficiently refunding policyholders a percentage of premium payments made during the COVID-19 pandemic because the insurer was not contractually bound to refund any premiums under its auto policies.

  • June 23, 2025

    Citing Delay, Premiums, 5th Circuit Rules For Life Insurance Beneficiary

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 20 granted judgment for the beneficiary in a life insurance dispute involving a policy that the issuer terminated months after it said it temporarily changed its cancellation practices because of COVID-19; the dispute concerned whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act applies and whether a small business owner had employees, and the panel concluded that the answer to both questions is yes.

  • June 23, 2025

    Judge Denies Insured’s Motion For Relief From Judgment In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. —A federal judge in North Carolina denied a hotel and restaurant owner insured’s motion for relief from a March 4, 2021, judgment dismissing its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, rejecting the insured’s argument that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling in N. State Deli, LLC v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. constitutes extraordinary circumstances that warrant relief.

  • June 20, 2025

    Employee Fails To Establish Religious Objection To COVID Testing In Lieu Of Shot

    ST. LOUIS — A panel of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a South Dakota federal court, which dismissed the lawsuit of a former employee who was terminated for refusing to comply with his employer’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-test policy after determining that a proposed amended complaint failed to establish an adequate factual basis for his claimed religious objection to COVID testing.

  • June 20, 2025

    Mississippi Seeks High Court Review Of Postmarked Ballot Receipt Law Invalidation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mississippi’s secretary of State filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel decision striking down a COVID-era Mississippi state law providing that mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day may be received by the registrar within five days of Election Day and still be valid.

  • June 19, 2025

    Colorado Panel Partly Reverses Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    DENVER — Noting two matters of first impression, a Colorado appellate court on June 18 reversed in part a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in a retirement communities owner’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic after finding that the insured stated a viable claim to recover some of its alleged losses pursuant to the policy’s health care endorsement.

  • June 19, 2025

    Class Denial Affirmed, 2 Claims Reinstated In No-Coins Suit Against Chipotle

    PHILADELPHIA — A consumer who sued a fast food chain for withholding change in coins due to a coin shortage during the coronavirus pandemic may proceed with his individual breach of contract and Pennsylvania consumer protection law claims only, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, upholding summary judgment for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. on the remaining claims and upholding denial of class certification.

  • June 18, 2025

    Preliminary Injunction Partly Granted In Suit To Stop Termination Of COVID Grants

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on June 17 granted in part a motion for a  preliminary injunction filed by a group of municipalities and a labor union in their lawsuit 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.

  • June 18, 2025

    Split 5th Circuit Affirms Award Of Over $12M In FTC Row With Online PPE Supplier

    NEW ORLEANS — A split Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s award of $12,241,035.69 to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for consumer complaints about undelivered and unrefunded personal protective equipment (PPE) in the FTC’s dispute with an online retailer over late and undelivered PPE, finding that the retailer failed to provide any evidence to the contrary regarding the amount of undelivered and unrefunded orders.

  • June 17, 2025

    COVID-19 Testing Lab Seeks Dismissal Of Insurer’s $30M Overpayment Counterclaim

    NEWARK, N.J. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical testing lab seeking reimbursement from health insurers for COVID-19 testing, the lab and its billing company moved to dismiss the insurers’ counterclaims and third-party counterclaims alleging that the lab and billing company caused the insurers to overpay the lab for basic testing services by at least $30 million.

  • June 16, 2025

    Law Firm Seeking COVID-19 Employee Retention Credit Refund Settles With Government

    PHILADELPHIA — The parties having reported that they have reached a settlement, a Pennsylvania federal judge on June 13 dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by a law firm seeking a tax refund of $790,318.08 for 2020 and 2021 for employee retention tax credits as provided for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for wage payments it paid to its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 13, 2025

    Magistrate Partly Grants Insured’s Motion To Compel In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York granted in part and denied in part a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s motion to compel its “all risk” insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute, directing the insurers to produce communications with their reinsurers and produce documents containing reserve information unless there is another viable ground for withholding.

  • June 13, 2025

    Claimant With Long COVID To Challenge LTD Benefit Denial In 9th Circuit

    SAN DIEGO — A claimant who unsuccessfully sought long-term disability (LTD) benefits due to symptoms he attributed to long COVID and cardiac issues is taking his case to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a California federal judge upheld denial of his claim on de novo review.

  • June 10, 2025

    Washington Panel Reverses, Remands UW’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit For Dismissal

    SEATTLE — A Washington appeals court panel on June 9 reversed a decision and remanded for a lower court to dismiss the University of Washington’s lawsuit seeking coverage for losses incurred at its medical and athletic properties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, relying on the recent ruling in Tulalip Tribes of Washington v. Lexington Insurance Co. to reject the insured’s  argument as to its entitlement to coverage.

  • June 10, 2025

    3rd Circuit Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Insurer In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 9 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in coronavirus coverage disputes that were consolidated on appeal, ruling that under New Jersey law, insurance policies that insure “physical loss or damage” do not cover financial losses that were imposed by mandates in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • June 10, 2025

    9th Circuit Sets Argument In Oral Surgeon’s Bid To Revive Disability Benefits Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for July 7 in an appeal seeking revival of an oral surgeon’s breach of contract and bad faith suit filed after he unsuccessfully sought disability benefits on the grounds that his comorbid conditions and inability to access recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) made it necessary to close his practice early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 06, 2025

    Panel Upholds Constructive Discharge Claim Of Employee Who Refused COVID Tests

    MINNEAPOLIS — Finding that a former county employee had established that her objection to her employer’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-test policy was based on sincerely held religious beliefs and that she plausibly alleged constructive discharge in being faced with giving up certain benefits, a panel of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 5 reversed the dismissal of her lawsuit by a Minnesota federal court.

  • June 06, 2025

    Vaccine Refusal Discrimination Lawsuit Based On ‘Body-As-A-Temple’ Belief Settles

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Having been advised by counsel that the parties had settled a claim of religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from a former employee’s refusal to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as mandated by the employer, a South Carolina federal magistrate judge on June 5 dismissed the case without prejudice.

  • June 06, 2025

    Claimant Who Sought LTD Benefits After Termination Wins Reversal

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In minute findings of fact and conclusions of law reversing denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits for a claimant who has a genetic musculoskeletal disorder, received a kidney transplant and asserted that he “pushed himself to work far beyond his ability to effectively do so,” a California federal judge ruled in part that “[a] plaintiff could be disabled under the Plan without experiencing a loss of earnings and while still working continuously.”

  • June 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Did Not Infringe On Patented Lipid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge rightly held that a COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc. and related entities does not infringe on a biopharmaceutical company’s patents related to a type of lipid used in mRNA vaccines, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held June 4, saying the lipid in Moderna’s vaccine does not meet the limitations described in the pharmaceutical company’s patents.

  • June 05, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Lab’s Suit Over COVID-19 Testing Reimbursement

    NEW YORK — Concluding in part that the appellant “fails to allege that it formed an agreement, express or implied, with any of the Defendants,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a summary order affirming dismissal of a suit over reimbursement for COVID-19 testing.

  • June 04, 2025

    Insured’s Negligence Complaint Against Broker Is Untimely, Indiana Panel Affirms

    INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurance broker in an insured’s lawsuit alleging that the broker negligently failed to provide advice on how to procure event cancellation insurance after the insured discovered that its insurance policies did not cover its business losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, concluding that there are no material questions of fact regarding whether Indiana’s two-year statute of limitations period expired before the insured filed its complaint.

  • June 04, 2025

    Hospital Seeks $11.5 Million Tax Refund For COVID-19 Employee Retention Credits

    SPOKANE, Wash. —  A Washington hospital filed suit against the United States seeking a tax refund of more than $11.5 million representing employee retention tax credits as provided for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for having had to partially suspend its business activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 02, 2025

    Supreme Court Will Not Review Michigan Takings Case Stemming From COVID Shutdowns

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 2 denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed by a Michigan fitness center seeking compensation for having been required by the state to close its properties because of the COVID-19 pandemic after an intermediate state appellate court ordered that a trial court enter summary disposition in favor of the state and the Michigan Supreme Court declined to review that decision.