The California Supreme Court has handed a big win to employers, when it ruled employers cannot be held liable in court if a worker passes Covid to a member of their household, helping answer questions that arose at the outset of the pandemic, including what is the scope of responsibility for a company to stop a highly contagious virus from spreading.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc., was issued July 6.
The court found family members are not precluded by the Workers’ Compensation Act from filing negligence claims, but that it’s not the employer’s duty to prevent the spread of COVID to people at an employee’s home.
Several precedents here and in other states are detailed in the decision to explain the finding against such expansion of tort liability.
The ruling is a huge win for California's business community, Kyla Chrisoffersen Powell, president and CEO of the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) told the Northern California Record by email.
“The court's opinion agreed with CJAC’s position that an employer does not owe a duty of care under California law to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to employees’ household members,” Powell said. “Confining the reach of the ‘duty’ element in negligence actions is of utmost importance to a business owner's ability to conduct their businesses in a reasonably clear, certain, and uniform litigation environment.
“This precedent-setting decision puts a stop to a potential never-ending chain of liability for businesses and prevents a significant uptick in lawsuits.”
The unanimous decision was authored by Associate Justice Carol Corrigan.
“Because it is impossible to eliminate the risk of infection, even with perfect implementation of best practices, the prospect of liability for infections outside the workplace could encourage employers to adopt precautions that unduly slow the delivery of essential services to the public,” Corrigan wrote. “Moreover, if a precedent for duty is set in regard to COVID-19, the anticipated costs of prevention, and liability, might cause some essential service providers to shut down if a new pandemic hits.”