WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – More than 200 business organizations on Wednesday submitted a letter to members of Congress that asks for help with a possible flood of lawsuits when the companies they represent reopen their doors.
The issue is likely to provide a fight when Republican leaders in the Senate introduce protections from coronavirus litigation in the next stimulus measure. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised it will be a key point.
At a recent hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the business community asked for temporary protections from lawsuits except in instances of gross negligence.
“Absent a targeted safe harbor for those that work to follow applicable guidelines, the fear and uncertainty from boundless liability threatens to impede our country’s social and economic recovery,” the letter says.
“In the wake of prior crises, Congress came together to pass timely and targeted liability protections with strong bipartisan support because lawmakers understood the acute economic threat of lawsuits at moments of maximum economic vulnerability.
“And while Congress has acted to provide some limited COVID-19-related liability protections for volunteer healthcare providers and some manufacturers of PPE in the CARES Act, much more must be done.”
The Democrat-led House of Representatives represents a major obstacle. Last year, the House attempted to push through a measure regarding the chemical PFAS that would have increased liability to countless businesses.
Senate Republicans prevented that from happening. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic presents the next battle over a possible litigation explosion. Colleges and universities are now facing class action lawsuits that say they should refund part of each student’s tuition because those students can’t enjoy the full campus life they signed up for.
In Chicago, a Walmart worker sued the company after coming down with the disease, and previous Legal Newsline coverage noted a Tennessee law firm is signing up clients to sue a nursing home over an outbreak.
A recent poll commissioned by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which signed the letter and owns Legal Newsline, showed nearly equal percentages of Democrat and Republican voters favor proposed liability shields. A poll released by the American Association for Justice, the nation’s trial lawyer group, says voters oppose blanket immunity.
But businesses are not asking for blanket immunity. At the Judiciary hearing, temporary protections from lawsuits except in cases of gross negligence were requested – similar to protections passed for health care workers in several Democratic states.
Wednesday’s letter asks for protections from lawsuits in four situations:
-For businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions that work to follow applicable public health guidelines;
-For health care workers and facilities providing COVID-19 care;
-For the makers, donors and distributors and users of vaccines, therapeutics and other personal protection equipment like hand sanitizers;
-For public companies targeted by securities lawsuits.
“In addition to being temporary, we believe that these liability protections should be limited in scope and preserve recourse for those harmed by truly bad actors who engage in egregious misconduct,” the letter says.
An article from lawyers at Jones Day says Congress not only has the authority to pass these protections but that it has done so in the past. One example was a provision to protect computer companies from Y2K liability.
The letter and a list of the organizations signing it can be found here.