Senate GOP Corporate Immunity From Coronavirus Liability Plan; Next Coronavirus Bill Negotiations
Last edited Sun Jul 19, 2020, 09:38 AM - Edit history (1)
"Republican Eye Sweeping Shield From Coronavirus Liability," Los Angeles Times/AP, July 17, 2020
A new plan from Senate Republicans to award businesses, schools and universities sweeping exemptions from lawsuits arising from inadequate coronavirus safeguards is putting Republicans and Democrats at loggerheads as Congress reconvenes next week to negotiate another relief package. The liability proposal, drafted by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and senior Republican John Cornyn of Texas, promises to shield employers when customers and workers are exposed to coronavirus by moving lawsuits to federal court and limiting legal liability to acts of “gross negligence or intentional misconduct,” according to a draft of the plan obtained by the Associated Press.
Supporters say the plan protects businesses and other employers who adhere to public health guidelines in good faith. Opponents argue it will permit wrongdoing to go unpunished. It’s up to Congress to resolve the debate, with the outcome likely to determine what legal recourse is available to Americans who contract the virus. “Even if businesses and hospitals follow all the relevant guidelines and act in good faith, they could end up fighting a very long and a very expensive lawsuit,” Cornyn said. “They could end up winning that lawsuit, but they could also end up going bankrupt in the process.”
In the courts, gross negligence amounts to “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, which is a high standard to meet. Ordinary negligence, by contrast, would occur if a business owner failed to take reasonable precautions to protect people from the COVID-19 threat. The GOP’s proposed standard would apply retroactively to when the coronavirus began to circulate in December and would extend through at least 2024.
McConnell has said for months that some form of liability shield will be in the next COVID response measure, telling an audience Wednesday in Kentucky that he won’t send the next, and fifth, coronavirus response bill to the floor without it. The liability shield is just one of the difficult issues confronting lawmakers as they launch into negotiations over another coronavirus bill with competing priorities. Other major battles involve whether to renew a $600-per-week bonus federal unemployment benefit, how much assistance to send state and local governments and whether to indulge President Trump’s wish to cut Social Security payroll taxes...
More, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-17/republicans-eye-sweeping-shield-from-coronavirus-liability
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"Congress Must Reject This Dangerous Proposal': Draft of McConnell Corporate Immunity Plan Sparks Alarm." McConnell's proposal, warned one advocacy group, "would ensure that workers, consumers, and students have absolutely no recourse when corporations recklessly disregard their health. Common Dreams, July 18, 2020.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/18/congress-must-oppose-dangerous-proposal-draft-mcconnell-corporate-immunity-plan
..The draft, authored by McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.), proposes relieving businesses, schools, churches, and other institutions of legal responsibility for workers, customers, and others who contract Covid-19 except in cases of "gross negligence and intentional misconduct"—a difficult standard to prove in court.
As the Associated Press reported, the Republican plan "offers a broad shield by requiring heightened pleading standards, stiffening burden-of-proof standards, and capping damages on awards. Employers would also be shielded from investigations by federal agencies."
Additionally, McConnell and Cornyn's plan would empower companies to move coronavirus-related personal injury and medical liability cases to more business-friendly federal courts. "Defendants are liable," the draft states, "only if they failed to make reasonable efforts to follow applicable public-health guidelines."
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