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Focusing On COVID-19 Litigation
Chamber Litigation Blog
November 23, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, Giles Judd, & Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP
This past week brought more rulings of interest in pending COVID-19 cases. While last week’s Roundup described the dismissal of claims brought by plaintiff restaurant owners against their insurers, a court in North Carolina held the opposite this past week, finding that restaurant owners were entitled to summary judgment on claims that their forced closure constituted a direct physical loss under their insurance policies.
November 16, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, Giles Judd, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP
As pandemic-related litigation continues to work its way through pre-trial proceedings, we are increasingly seeing new rulings on dispositive motions and other significant events like class certification. Two insurance coverage cases were dismissed, upholding the virus exclusions found in the policies at issue. California courts dismissed two putative class actions seeking refunds from the Regents of the University of California, finding that the Eleventh Amendment barred those claims. And plaintiffs won class certification in a California suit against Walmart concerning its COVID-19 return policy.
November 13, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Recent reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation covered: the U.S. Chamber’s petition for rulemaking concerning pandemic-related securities litigation; research suggesting that defendants will face widespread juror bias in cases related to COVID-19; and more.
November 9, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, Giles Judd, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP
New court filings this past week spanned a wide array of industries, with important developments in pending cases for major companies.
November 2, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, Giles Judd, and J. Stephen Tagert, Alson & Bird LLP
This week marks a milestone for us: our 30th weekly COVID-19 Litigation Roundup. This past week saw new COVID-19 related lawsuits in many of the categories we’ve covered in the past, plus new legal theories and important developments in pending cases.
October 30, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Some highlights of the past week’s reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation include: overall litigation trends and strategies for businesses to mitigate legal risk, new securities claims, the first plaintiff win in a business-interruption insurance case, and failed challenges to mask and social-distancing requirements.
October 26, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, Giles Judd, and J. Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP
Continuing last week’s uptick in the volume of COVID-19 related lawsuits, this week presented us with a plethora of new suits, though most fall into now-familiar categories, including employment and other workplace-related actions.
October 23, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Some highlights of the last two weeks’ reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation include negotiations over including liability protections in the next round of stimulus legislation, more calls for Congress and state legislatures to enact such protections, college tuition refund lawsuits, and an update on employment litigation.
October 22, 2020
Steven Lehotsky
Executive Vice President & Chief Litigation Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
What we see from Judge Barrett’s highly qualified record is that America’s employers will get a fair shot.
October 19, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Giles Judd, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and J. Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP
Pandemic-related case filings jumped noticeably this past week, with significant new litigation across many industries asserting a wide variety of claims.
October 13, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Kaelyne Wietelman, Alston & Bird LLP
This past week’s big news centered around MDLs (multi-district litigation). In Illinois, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized 34 lawsuits alleging denial of coverage by Society Insurance Co., but declined to centralize groups of cases against several other insurers. And, two different MDLs were formed to centralize cases alleging wrongful refusal to refund canceled ski passes.
October 9, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Some highlights of this week’s reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation include the continued increase in state-court suits, legal challenges to state emergency orders, workplace-vaccination polices, the mask-related dilemma facing businesses, and recent decisions on contractual defenses.
October 5, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Kaelyne Wietelman
Alston & Bird LLP
This week continues a recent trend of fewer noteworthy COVID-19 related cases being filed, although there was still a broad diversity of claims raised in new lawsuits.
October 2, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Highlights of this week’s reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation include articles on “take home” lawsuits, the need for liability reform, and a possible “middle ground” for handling COVID-19 business-interruption insurance MDLs.
September 28, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Kaelyne Wietelman, Alston & Bird LPP
This week brought us several new rulings in long-pending cases, including the dismissal of six class actions against JPMorgan Chase based upon a ruling that banks are not required to pay “agent fees” under the Paycheck Protection Program. Negligence claims in a suit against Princess Cruise Lines were dismissed on the pleadings because the plaintiffs had not adequately alleged causation. A Florida judge shot down a plaintiff’s standing in her proposed class action against LA Fitness over club fee refunds. And many more new cases were filed, including employment, government, derivative, insurance, and landlord-tenant suits.
September 25, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation was somewhat lighter this week. Highlights include articles on shareholder derivative litigation, workplace litigation, and effective liability waivers.
September 21, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Debolina Das, and Kaelyne Wietelman, Alston & Bird LLP
This past week saw several major pandemic-related legal developments, with important court decisions, continued litigation against employers, new lawsuits involving high-profile celebrities, and state legislation enacted to protect businesses from COVID-19 liability.
September 18, 2020
Jonathan D. Urick, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Some highlights of this week’s reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation include articles on its continuing and likely accelerating growth, a possible compromise coronavirus-relief bill, international business-interruption insurance litigation, the recent judicial decision striking down Pennsylvania’s coronavirus orders as unconstitutional, and the federal class actions against Zoom.
September 15, 2020
Jason A. Levine, Peter E. Masaitis, Gillian H. Clow, Debolina Das, and Kaelyne Wietelman
Alston & Bird LLP
In the short holiday week, new filing action was predominantly in the government suit realm, with many more actions challenging pandemic regulations and many other government suits seeking to enforce them. A new ruling from the Seventh Circuit upheld an Illinois executive order, concluding that the order does not violate the First Amendment by providing preferential treatment to the free exercise of religion. The Sixth Circuit also let stand a Michigan law requiring that agricultural employers and housing operators test migrant workers for COVID-19 before beginning work, notwithstanding the disproportionate impact on Latinos.
September 11, 2020
Daryl Joseffer, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
This week’s reporting and commentary on COVID-19 litigation includes an especially interesting look at the precedents being set in cruise-ship cases, the role of state sovereign immunity in college coronavirus cases, too much time at home driving litigation over 401(k) fees, the leading employment-benefits cases, and, of course, Congress’s efforts to enact liability protection.