A labour union challenged an employer’s health policy requiring employees of a long-term care home to take mandatory three-dose vaccination against COVID-19.
In response to the economic losses incurred by businesses on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Government enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act which authorized the issuance of special Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses experiencing economic hardship.
On 22 September 2022, the Belgian Constitutional Court held that several aspects of the provisions organizing the tracing of COVID-19 infections were unconstitutional.
For the first time, a Korean court in Seoul awarded compensation to a man claiming to suffer from injury due to COVID-19 vaccine.
The petitioner, a not-for-profit society incorporated under the Societies Act, challenged the constitutional validity of the Food and Liquor Serving Premises Order and the Gathering and Events Order, both issued on 10 September 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the British Columbia's Provincial Health Officer (PHO).
As discussed in previous posts (about Rutgers University, George Washington University and American University, New York University and Baylor University) many coronavirus lawsuits have been filed throughout the United States to seek reimbursement for college tuition, room, board, meal plans, and fees.
On 27 July 2022, the First Instance Court of Varese (Tribunale civile) rejected a challenge by a Facebook user who was suspended from the social media for spreading fake information about COVID-19.
Two religious communities brought an action against the Minister for COVID-19 Response and the Director General of Health, claiming that New Zealand government’s response to the pandemic, namely restrictions imposed on several activities including religious gathering, were unlawful because they limited the right of the applicants to manifest their religious beliefs, as enshrined in Section 15 of the Bill of Rights Act.
On 6 September 2022, the Commercial Court of Paris dismissed the claims made by Shopper Union – the publishing company of the France-Soir website – against Google, which had cut off the website from its advertising network, dereferenced it from its news service, and suspended its YouTube channel because of content that violated its rules.
On 8 September 2022, the Higher Administrative Court of Lower Saxony in Lüneburg rejected a dentist’s appeal against the decision of the Administrative Court of Osnabrück which had upheld the ban of the applicant’s professional activities due to his refusal to vaccinate against COVID-19.
Several human rights organizations filed a claim before the Permanent People’s Tribunal against President Bolsonaro for his actions during the spread against the COVID-19 pandemic.
By judgment of 2 September 2022, a Texas jury held that COVID-19 caused direct physical loss or damage to the property of Baylor College of Medicine – a health sciences university – and awarded the institution $48.5 million from the insurer that provided it with commercial property insurance.
In early September 2022, the Labor Tribunal of Trento ordered the social security agency to compensate the brother of a frontline doctor – her sole heir – with 125,000 euros, as her death caused by COVID-19 should be qualified as an occupational accident.
The CEO of a non-governmental healthcare organization has filed an appeal against a verdict of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Dhaka which sentenced him, his wife (chairperson of the organization) and six other people to 11 years of imprisonment.
By decision of 12 September 2022, the District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a lawsuit filed by a number of AstraZeneca shareholders alleging that the pharmaceutical company misled investors about the progress of clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine.
On 25 May 2022, the Criminal Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court upheld the appeal for review (recurso de revisión) filed by a man against issued by Criminal Court No. 2 of Elche.
The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union seized the Fair Work Commission on behalf of a concreter employed by an important construction company. In its submission, the plaintiff alleged that the worker last performed work for the business on about 6 July 2021 and that, since 20 July 2021, he has been absent (mostly without pay) due to his decision not to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
On 8 September 2022 the Delhi High Court heard a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Chairman of Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC).
In May 2020, the Governor of Washington issued a number of COVID-related rules which acknowledged the hazards posed by the pandemic and prohibited any agricultural employer from continuing to operate beyond 3 June 2020, unless the employer complied with a number of safety requirements, which included, inter alia, providing the employees with personal protection equipment and ensuring physical distancing.
On 27 September 2021, the 1st Local Police Court of Copiapó found that a supermarket had violated Law no. 19,496 on the Protection of Consumer Rights for not indicating the price per unit for certain dairy products as well as for not having implemented adequate safety measures – i.e. setting a maximum capacity allowed in the premise – to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
On 2 September 2022, the Supreme Court of Namibia declared invalid a presidential regulation issued in the spring of 2020, during the first national lockdown in the country.
On 23 August 2022, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit partly reversed a District Court ruling and restored the lawsuit filed by a student at Baylor University seeking reimbursement of tuition and fees paid for the Spring 2020 semester.
On 29 August 2022, the Jerusalem District Court rejected the appeal of a former medical doctor whose license had been revoked by the Health Ministry, following the publication of denigrating articles towards the medical community written by the doctor himself, as well as his public call to violate COVID guidelines issued by the Ministry.
On 29 June 2022 (reported on 30 August 2022), the Commercial Court n°1 of Alicante held that Thai Airways had to pay a passenger €611.11 for the reimbursement of a return ticket from London to Bangkok in April 2020, since she could not travel because of lockdown measures imposed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 3 August 2022, the Berlin Administrative Court (1st chamber) held that the police could expel a person participating in a demonstration against the government measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, over suspicions that the person might be infected with the virus.
On 29 August 2022, the Supreme Court of India gave notice to the government of India, stating that it has accepted to hear a writ petition filed by the parents of two girls dead after receiving vaccine.
On 19 July 2022, the Spanish Supreme Court rejected a challenge by Autopista del Sureste Concesionaria Española de Autopistas (Ausur) – the concessionaire operating the AP-7 Alicante-Cartagena highway – against the Spanish Government’s decision not to compensate the company for the negative impact on traffic during the state of alarm declared on 14 March 2020 and provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 25 July 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna held that Austrian authorities were responsible for “illegal and culpable information” when, in March 2020, they communicated – or, more precisely, failed to communicate – about the spread of COVID-19 in the ski resort of Ischgl.
On 1 September 2022, a court in Singapore gave new charges to a man who had been charged in 2021 for exposing others to the risk of infection.
On 1 September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights declared inadmissible the application filed by a Romanian law professor and practicing lawyer against COVID-19 related measures put in place by the government of Romania following the declaration on 18 May 2020 of a state of alert which had repeatedly been extended until 8 March 2022.
By decision of 19 July 2022, the District Court for the District of New Jersey gave some guidance in respect of suits relating to employers’ liability for alleged violations of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (i.e. an Act of Congress meant to respond to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which also contained work-related measures; hereinafter, “FFCRA”).
On 21 July 2022 (published on 18 August 2022), the Federal Constitutional Court rejected the challenges of several parents of minor children against the obligation to show proof of vaccination against measles for children of at least one year of age to receive early childhood or preschool education and day care.
On 8 December 2021, claimants brought an amparo action against Decree n. 168-2021-PCM seeking a declaration that the measures provided therein – most specifically a duty to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 (at least three doses) for drivers in the private and public transport sectors – are inapplicable to them.
In September 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) – i.e., an agency of the USA charged with the interpretation, administration and enforcement of Title I of the “American with disabilities Act” (hereinafter “ADA”) – filed suit against a gas company for having unlawfully discriminated against a former employee by laying off and then terminating him based on his disability and his record of this disability.
On 12 August 2022, the Supreme Court of Korea confirmed the judgment of an appellate court acquitting a leader of a Christian religious church accused of having hindered the government response to COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020.
A student of Nursing and Midwifery successfully brought a claim against her university, claiming that their decision to suspend her curricular work placement based on certain opinions she had expressed about COVID-19 vaccines was contrary to Section 35 of the New South Wales University Act 1997 (WSUA) prohibiting religious and political discrimination.
This project and its database have been made possible with the financial support from the World Health Organization