Personal Injury Claims Based on COVID-19

The first case of COVID 19 was reported on New Years’ Eve of 2019. Since then it has spread like wildfire across the entire world. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead due to the virus and many businesses have gone bankrupt. Millions of people are unemployed and hospital emergency rooms are overwhelmed with patients.

There is currently no end in sight for the virus and the CDC is saying there is unlikely to be a vaccine until the middle of 2021. There are likely to be many more deaths as a result of the virus in the interim and there are also many different personal injury lawsuits to come. Given the large number of people affected by the disease, those lawsuits are likely to be class actions.

Understanding the Basics of Personal Injury Law

There are a few basic things you should understand about personal injury law before initiating or joining any lawsuit.

There are negligence laws in the United States. These laws state that a person may bring a claim against another party if that party was negligent in their responsibilities. You must prove certain things in order to win a personal injury case.

You must establish that the responsible party had a duty of care to protect your safety. You must also show evidence that they breached that duty by failing to take the actions that would have prevented the injury. You must prove that their negligence caused your injury and you must prove that you suffered damages. The easiest type of damages to prove are financial ones. You can also get compensation for physical and emotional damages.

Who to Sue

In the case of COVID 19, knowing who to sue may be a very big problem. Many would argue that the federal government was negligent in its duty by failing to ban travel as soon as they were aware of how dangerous the pandemic really was.

Suing the Government

Suing the government can be very complicated. They are protected by sovereign immunity which states that the government cannot be sued unless it unequivocally consents to be sued. The U.S has waived some of its rights in this regard.

The Federal Tort Claim Act allows private parties to sue the government in a federal court for negligence committed by persons acting on behalf of the United States. However, cases such as these can take years to put together and they can take even longer to settle.

Most attorneys are likely to want to move things along quite a bit more quickly. Most class action suits will probably be against businesses.

Nursing Homes

Many of the people who have died from COVID are elderly people who have passed away in nursing homes. Nursing facilities are often understaffed and they do not always take time to clean properly or give individual patients the care that they need. If you have lost a loved one in a nursing home, you should talk to a lawyer about the possibility of suing the home for negligence.

Restaurant Chains

Restaurant chains typically have a written protocol for cleanliness. When the CDC released considerations for restaurants and bars, it recommended certain standards of cleanliness to which eateries were supposed to adhere. If a restaurant failed to comply with those considerations, it might be considered negligent.

Essential Workers

Although many people lost their jobs due to the virus, some workers were considered essential and were expected to keep showing up. If your employer did not clean properly or did not require workers to wear masks, there is a good chance they may be considered negligent.

Finding an Attorney

The litigious possibilities that the virus has caused can be vexing. You will want to find a good personal injury lawyer to answer any questions that you may have. If you are in the state of California, Personal Injury Attorneys Grossmans may be able to help you with your COVID 19 related lawsuit.

No one knows if or when the pandemic will come to an end. Getting money for your personal injuries may be crucial to your future and the future of others.

Authoritative Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/cdc-director-says-coronavirus-vaccines-wont-be-widely-available-till-the-middle-of-next-year/2020/09/16/209fecf6-f827-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html