Why are Democrats so resistant to liability protection as part of the next COVID bill?
On the one hand, I’m a very firm supporter of the people’s right to sue, especially big corporations. I’m a firm supporter of contingency payment and class action lawsuits. I’m sorry for Europeans who have no recourse when large companies rip them off or physicians engage in malpractice (although it may be that Europeans have other recourse that I don’t know about.)
On the other hand, I’ve seen enough anecdotal evidence first hand of attorneys dragging things out to inflate their income, from the trivial of chatting over coffee and donuts before getting down to business to the tune of $200/hour to the very real instance where a lawsuit we engaged in with our condo board (driven by their attorney, for sure) was awarded a win to us as a “summary judgement.” In other words, there were no grounds for the defendents’ position. (A little more detail on that at the bottom of this post, if you’re interested.)
I don't know how to protect the one while putting breaks on the other.... Except maybe in the isolated intance of COVID.
Now, in this time of rapidly evolving science, of the degradation of normal sources of authority like the CDC, I can see thousands of lawsuits brought because some attorney thought “Hey! No one knows what’s right. This could last for years!!” Already 3000 COVID lawsuits have been brought. I can see merit in a law that protects hospitals and businesses from further economic hardship because they weren’t forsightful enough to figure out just the right thing to do. Or the DID do the right thing and someone and their lawyer see a chance to make a quick buck.
And, if the behavior was egregious, isn’t the better recourse to the established system? If there is a law against some behavior (like, say, requiring workers with pre-existing conditions to work in dangerous conditions), you don’t have to sue, right? You complain to the authorities, and they do what they do. Bring charges, or work it out. I just listened to the Massachusetts attorney general urging people to call their hotlines and they will get involved with employer/employee COVID disputes and, if necessary, bring charges.
Donald Trump knows that if you can prolong the legal arguments long enough, few people can afford to fight you.
So, again, why are Democrats so resistant to liability protection as part of the next COVID bill?
TIA
LAS
My experience with frivolous legal behavior.
My experience with an attorney racking up hours had to do with the definition of a curtain wall. No need to get into the details, but the facts were clear. Fortunately, one of the three of us unit owners who brought the suit was a retired attorney. Because she was retired, we other two had to hire our own attorney, but she was willing to let the other plaintiff do almost all of the work. If that had not been the case there would have been no way for us to afford the many hours of legal work that the condo attorney created by submitting ridiculous questions and engaging in other clear delaying tactics. It was clear that their strategy was to wait us out.
(One vivid bit of evidence of how our attorney helped us keep costs down was that she let us be the ones to spend an afternoon at the courthouse and photo-copy documents instead of sending a paralegal.)
The summary judgement that was rendered is confirmation that I’m not just making things up.
= new reply since forum marked as read
from the start. He's not allowed them to even become involved. As a result his own failures along with the accompanying negligence of some hospitals and other employers of HCWs, EMTs, nursing home workers whose level of culpability in the deaths of their staff have left them and their survivors unable to even file for workman's compensation or even collect on death benefits. I have scores of HCW and physician colleagues who have contracted and in some cases died from COVID-19 while working under horrendous conditions with "disposable"PPE falling apart from repeated and unsafe reuse. My sister has been ill since May 4, not able to collect workman's comp nor extended disability and getting paid only because she had stored up months of sick and vacation time, which is almost used up. She's among 7 ER nurses who have contracted COVID-19 in the same ER and it is suspected that a poorly ventilated/rapidly constructed triage area may be to blame. Without OSHA, there's no one to investigate.
Not to mention all the millions of workers outside the health care and first responder fields, whose employers ignored even basic steps to protect them.
You think liability protection is merely tamping down on excessive, frivolous, or exploitative lawsuits during a time of a national crisis.
NO! What the R's want is NO accountability whatsoever, protecting even the most negligent who hold power or authority. They are content to let the workers absorb all the risks and horrific outcomes with the means to fight back-- with no recourse. Not even a Federal investigative agency to prevent others from suffering the same harm.
THAT is what is at stake when you take the R's side in defending including absolute protection against liability. 
