Inc. Magazine

Do Businesses Need Liability Protection for COVID-19?

Inc. Magazine

California commercial litigators are paying close attention to new laws under consideration during the coronavirus pandemic. The reality is that COVID-19 has caused significant problems for a lot of businesses, especially those that were forced to close down or limit access. One way that Republicans in the United States Congress are responding is by attempting to pass legislation that would give businesses strong protections against being sued by workers and customers who become ill. If this law passes, anyone who gets sick while in a retail store or in an office would find it almost impossible to bring a successful lawsuit against the business.

Do businesses need liability protection for COVID-19? Keep reading this blog to learn more.

Los Angeles Commercial Litigator Robert Tauler Quoted in Article About Coronavirus Legislation

Inc. Magazine recently asked Los Angeles commercial litigator Robert Tauler for his opinion on the GOP’s proposed COVID-19 legislation that would make it more difficult for employees and consumers to file civil suits against businesses. Here are a few excerpts from that article:

This…is the nightmare business scenario that the GOP hoped to avoid by proposing to enhance liability protections for businesses in its version of a Phase 4 stimulus bill, dubbed the Heals Act. The legislation would raise the bar for filing liability claims surrounding Covid-19. Rather than requiring plaintiffs to prove a company did not take reasonable care to prevent injury, sickness, or death on their premises–the current standard of liability–it would require them to prove that a company acted grossly unreasonably. 

“They have to show that the exposure caused the plaintiff to contract the coronavirus,” and that the business did nothing to prevent consumers from getting sick, says Robert Tauler, managing partner at Tauler Smith, a Los Angeles law firm that focuses on commercial litigation. “That is a very, very difficult standard to meet,” he says, adding: “It would basically cut any lawsuit off at the knees.”

Read the full article on Inc.com.