Insurers’ COVID-19 Notepad: What You Need to Know Now - Week of August 15, 2022
Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.15.22
Courts Dismiss COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims
On August 11, 2022, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a grant of judgment on the pleadings to Illinois Union Insurance Company on a buffet franchise’s COVID-19 business interruption claims. The court applied its decision in Uncork & Create LLC v. Cincinnati Insurance Company, 27 F.4th 926 (4th Cir. 2022), which held that losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were not covered absent material destruction or material harm to the insured premises. The case is Golden Corral Corp. v. Ill. Union Ins. Co.
On August 8, 2022, the Superior Court of California granted Factory Mutual Insurance Company’s motion to strike portions of a complaint filed by nineteen National Hockey League clubs for losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and denied its demurrer. Citing United Talent Agency v. Vigilant Ins. Co., 77 Cal. App. 5th 821 (2022), the Court found that plaintiffs failed to allege covered physical loss or damage due to COVID-19, although it allowed the plaintiffs’ claim for communicable disease coverage to survive Factory Mutual’s demurrer. The case is San Jose Sharks LLC, et al. v. Factory Mut. Ins. Co., et al.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
