A federal court’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging a wife’s COVID-19 was due to her husband’s workplace could become precedent for similar claims, reinforcing the new litigation landscape arising from the pandemic.
The case underscores the uneven playing field for businesses struggling to comply with extensive new mandates enacted in response to the pandemic, and the need for liability protections, Kyla Christoffersen Powell, president and CEO of the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC), told the Northern California Record by email.
“CJAC believes that case dismissal was the right outcome and supports the ruling, but while the outcome is positive, the fact that the case was brought in the first place is indicative of a broader problem the legislature and the governor need to address when it comes to liability protections for businesses,” Powell said.
The suit was initially filed in San Francisco Superior Court, after which the defendant filed to remove it to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Judge Maxine Chesney of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found for the defendants in a Feb. 22 order, stating most of the claims, “are barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of California's workers' compensation statutes.”
The order, however, also granted the plaintiffs leave to file an amended complaint.
“Businesses all over the state are vulnerable right now to these types of suits – which essentially accuse them of being responsible for a pandemic they cannot control,” Powell said. “This is driving fear in businesses that are already struggling due to the pandemic, and they are bracing for lawsuits that they don’t have the means to fight.”
The defendant’s reply to the suit noted, “It cannot be charged with the duty to prevent the outside world from contracting the disease.”
Powell noted that businesses can comply with government safety protocols and still get sued.
“And it can cost them thousands of dollars to defend against even one of these lawsuits. It’s enough to wipe out a small operation,” Powell said.
Roughly two dozen states have passed or are considering Covid liability protections. In California, Assemblymember Frank Bigelow, R-Madera, recently filed AB 1313, urgency legislation which would exempt businesses from liability, “if the business has substantially complied with all applicable state and local health laws, regulations, and protocols.”
Another measure, AB 1152, sponsored by Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, would grant such measures to higher education institutions as they reopen for in-person learning.
“If the state is serious about economic recovery from the pandemic, it needs to take steps right now to pass legislation that protects businesses from unnecessary or frivolous lawsuits,” Powell said.