The Next Wave of COVID-19 Litigation: “Take Home” Lawsuits
| |
October 26, 2020 | Expert Institute
| |
Thanks to Anjelica Cappellino, J.D.
| |
The potential for employees to contract COVID-19 at their place of employment has been a huge issue during the current pandemic. This is especially true for essential workers who continued to clock in hours despite a nationwide shutdown when the virus first gripped the country. Some states, such as California, have amended their Workers’ Compensation laws to create a “rebuttable presumption” that an essential worker testing positive for COVID-19 had contracted it during their employment. In the severely impacted meatpacking industry, infected employees filed lawsuits against their employers directly. This was the case for over 4,500 workers at Tyson Food’s meatpacking plants who alleged violations in worker safety.
Employee safety is just one facet of the potential liabilities that a business can face in the COVID-19 era. Businesses are now facing an emerging trend of lawsuits filed by those who are alleging that they contracted COVID-19 through the employee who had taken it home with them. One such “take home” lawsuit, Ugalde v. Aurora Packing Company, Inc., filed in Illinois state court by the daughter of Esperanza Ugalde, alleges wrongful death claims related to her mother’s fatal bout with COVID-19. But unlike prior lawsuits regarding workplace safety, the late Mrs. Ugalde was not an employee of the defendant’s meat processing plant. Rather, according to the complaint, Mrs. Ugalde contracted the virus from her husband who was a worker at the plant. The allegation that COVID-19 can be “taken home” to others due to unsafe working conditions is an issue that requires its own particular legal analysis.
The “Take Home” Allegations
The complaint filed in Mrs. Ugalde’s wrongful death lawsuit alleges that she had contracted the virus from her husband, who worked “shoulder to shoulder” with other workers at the defendant’s meat processing plant despite a known outbreak of COVID-19. Mr. Ugalde had worked as a butcher for Aurora Packing for 35 years and Mrs. Ugalde was his stay-at-home wife for 45 years. The complaint outlines that Mr. Ugalde contracted COVID-19 on April 28, 2020 during the scope of his employment, and shortly thereafter on May 2, 2020, Mrs. Ugalde died from the virus. The complaint further alleges that Mrs. Ugalde’s death was a “direct and proximate result” of a number of negligent actions committed by Aurora. This includes Aurora’s failure to warn its employees of a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility or to take any prevention measures. The complaint also alleges the company created a risk of harm by, among other things, failing to disinfect the facility, to provide personal protective equipment to its employees, or to institute a sick leave policy. As the attorney for Mrs. Ugalde’s family states, “By [defendant’s] failures to prevent and mitigate the spread of the virus, in our opinion, it was foreseeable that they would take this virus beyond the facility and infect others within the community.”
Similarities to Asbestos Litigation
Between 7% and 9% of the over 200,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States so far have been attributed to “take home” infections from others who had contracted the virus at their place of employment. Although these specific scenarios might seem novel, the idea that a health risk can be brought home by an employee and hurt a member of the public is reminiscent of previous litigation involving asbestos-related illnesses. For example, in 2013, a California jury awarded $27.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiff after she contracted mesothelioma from the asbestos fibers that her husband carried home on his work clothes when he was working for an insulation installation company in the 1950s.
Risk analysts have pointed out that COVID-19 litigation is following the trend set forth in asbestos litigation, which first started appearing in the context of worker’s compensation claims filed by workers exposed to the toxin at their place of employment. Asbestos litigation then branched out to products liability claims, and then to “take-home” cases. The fourth wave of asbestos litigation extended to other types of contamination cases in products, such as talc powder, that were available and used by the public. If the history of asbestos litigation is any indicator, it is likely that businesses can face liability for COVID-19 infections in a number of ways.
| |
|
|
Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants, ("Veritas") is a truly independent executive compensation consulting firm.
We are independently owned, and have no entangling relationships that may create potential conflict of interest scenarios, or may attract the unwanted scrutiny of regulators, shareholders, the media, or create public outcry. Veritas goes above and beyond to provide unbiased executive compensation counsel. Since we are independently owned, we do our job with utmost objectivity - without any entangling business relationships.
Following stringent best practice guidelines, Veritas works directly with boards and compensation committees, while maintaining outstanding levels of appropriate communication with senior management. Veritas promises no compromises in presenting the innovative solutions at your command in the complicated arena of executive compensation.
We deliver the advice that you need to hear, with unprecedented levels of responsive client service and attention.
Visit us online at www.veritasecc.com, or contact our CEO Frank Glassner personally via phone at (415) 618-6060, or via email at fglassner@veritasecc.com. He'll gladly answer any questions you might have.
For your convenience, please click here for Mr. Glassner's contact data, and click here for his bio.
|
|
