COVID-19 is creating new types of lawsuits

by Jeffrey Nadrich Managing Partner, Nadrich & Cohen, LLP

The novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 is creating new, novel types of lawsuits. Lawsuits are now being filed regarding deaths in nursing homes, deaths after contracting COVID-19 aboard a cruise ship, deaths after contracting COVID-19 at work and COVID-19 business interruption claim denials.

• COVID-19 nursing home deaths: Every nursing home in the United States is mandated by federal law to have an infection control program “designed to provide a safe, sanitary and comfortable environment and to help prevent the development and transmission of disease and infection.” This program must investigate, control and prevent infections in the facility, decide what procedures should be applied to individual residents and maintain a record of incidents and corrective actions related to infections. The program must also identify residents who require isolation to prevent infection spread and isolate those residents, prohibit employees with communicable diseases or infected skin lesions from direct contact with residents or their food, require staff to wash their hands after direct contact with residents and require personnel to handle, store, process and transport linens to prevent infection spread.

Nursing homes are duty bound to protect their residents using an infection control program as described above and can be held liable for infections which occur due to a failure to adhere to such a program.

Over 43% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths are linked to nursing homes, according to a June 27 New York Times article. Elderly adults with pre-existing conditions are known to be the most vulnerable population to COVID-19.

For more information on COVID-19 nursing home deaths, visit https://www.personalinjurylawcal.com/coronavirus-lawsuit/

• COVID-19 cruise ship deaths: Carnival and Princess cruise lines are currently facing a lawsuit which accuses them of knowingly helping spread COVID-19 on its cruise ships. This lawsuit accuses the companies of failing to take proper precautions in sanitizing or cleaning their ships and failing to properly screen or test cruise passengers.

Princess was aware in mid-February that some passengers aboard a prior cruise had contracted COVID-19. However, Princess failed to inform the next group of passengers boarding that cruise ship about the virus. Passengers and crew members on the next cruise were never told that people on the prior cruise had contracted COVID-19 while on the cruise ship. Passengers were only notified about passengers contracting COVID-19 on the previous cruise on February 25, once the cruise had already started.

Diamond Princess and Costa Luminosa passengers should have also been notified about the virus spreading on those ships on prior voyages. They were not.

For more information on COVID-19 cruise ship deaths, visit https://www.personalinjurylawcal.com/coronavirus-cruise-ships-attorney/

• COVID-19 workplace deaths: Companies are duty bound to provide their workers with safe workplace environments. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, this means providing workers with adequate personal protective equipment and ensuring that proper social distancing is maintained in the workplace.

Most Americans have probably witnessed workplaces without adequate personal protective equipment and/or without proper social distancing being maintained. A lack of workplace safety like this is, unfortunately, all too common today and many workers will likely contract COVID-19 because of this lack of safety. Companies can be held liable for the deaths of their workers if their workers died because they contracted COVID-19 in an unsafe workplace environment which failed to protect them from the virus. Families in California are now entitled to worker’s compensation death benefits if they died because of contracting COVID-19 on the job, thanks to a new order signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in May.

For more information on COVID-19 workplace deaths, visit https://www.personalinjurylawcal.com/covid-19-deaths-in-the-workplace/

• COVID-19 business interruption insurance claim denial: Countless businesses have been forced to shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many owners of these businesses previously purchased business interruption insurance to protect themselves from unforeseen events like the pandemic. Unfortunately, many of these business owners are seeing their claims denied by the insurance companies, sometimes wrongfully.

Insurance companies often deny claims based on language in their policies which is too vague to be enforceable. Some COVID-19 interruption insurance claims are being denied right now because the insurers say a lack of physical damage to the business occurred. However, contamination of the business by a virus is obviously an example of physical damage. An experienced lawyer can analyze the language in your insurance policy to determine if you are eligible for a business interruption insurance claim.

For more information on COVID-19 business interruption insurance claim denials, visit https://www.personalinjurylawcal.com/business-interruption-insurance/

About the author

Jeffrey Nadrich is the managing partner of Nadrich & Cohen, LLP, a California personal injury law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fresno, Modesto, Tracy and Palm Desert. The firm has been successfully handling wrongful death and insurance claim denial cases since 1990. Its lawyers possess over 70 years of combined legal experience and have recovered over $350,000,000 on behalf of clients.