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Every year there are new high profile civil litigation and commercial liability cases involving businesses in the United States. In short-lived modern news cycles, it’s common to hear about a case or situation and promptly forget about it as the media’s attention drifts elsewhere.
Two recent 2021 examples were the tornadoes in Kentucky and the condo building collapse in Florida. Both were massive nationwide news stories that held the public’s attention for about a week, but as with most events, the luster of a dramatic story fades quickly.
One of the most highly publicized action-worthy events of the Kentucky tornadoes was a situation with a candle factory. Factory workers were allegedly told by managers they would face disciplinary action if they heeded tornado warnings and sought shelter. Unfortunately, a tornado went on to demolish the factory, with many workers still in it. A total of eight workers died in the tragedy. Surviving family members and workers are suing the manufacturer for what the plaintiffs describe as flagrant indifference to employee safety.
The Florida condo collapse lawsuits is also illustrative of how these types of cases often proceed.
For one thing, the actual cause of the collapse continued to change and evolve as 2021 progressed. The most recent narrative is that nearby development compromised an already shaky foundation that had long required structural repairs.
The lawsuit is also an informative example of just how long a complicated personal injury or wrongful death case can take. The judge decided the trial wouldn’t formally start until March 2023, nearly a year and a half after the actual collapse. One of the reasons for the delay is the complexity of all the engineering facts and evidence that must be analyzed by an array of experts who will testify to things like HOA’s failures and their liability.
As is sometimes the case with trials like these, the plaintiffs are not making a specific dollar demand for damages. Their lawyers are hopeful that the families with wrongful death claims may share hundreds of millions of dollars in damages by the end of the case.
Cases relating to COVID-19 were also of particular interest in 2021, like this wrongful death case brought by a worker against their employer – See’s Candies. Many workers have struggled to hold employers accountable for a COVID-19 infection, even when they feel confident their illness was the result of their employer’s failure to maintain a safe workplace.
The case is also a little different because it was the employee’s husband, who was not an employee of See’s Candies, who passed away. She alleges she caught COVID-19 at work and brought it home to her husband who later died of the illness. The company initially won a ruling that the employee needed to seek redress through the normal workers’ comp process but lost on appeal in California’s Second Appellate District.
While this is far from the only coronavirus-related wrongful death or personal injury lawsuit in 2021, it is noteworthy in that many states have taken steps to discourage COVID-19 lawsuits against business. However, simply being able to proceed with a lawsuit is far from a complete victory.
As was noted by Pew Charitable Trusts, the predicted wave of COVID-19 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits wasn’t the tsunami it was initially feared to be. Many states, including Georgia, moved quick to pass various types of business liability protections in 2020. The goal of many of those state laws was to keep affected workers in the workers’ comp insurance system instead of inundating courts with coronavirus injury and death claims.
COVID-19 injury and wrongful death cases aren’t always entirely straightforward, even in states that passed legislation to discourage every infected employee from suing their employer. There are scenarios where gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct in the handling of COVID-19 infections or safety measures might still open employers to liability.
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Facing commercial litigation on your own can be an anxiety-inducing experience. Most businesspeople invest their time and effort into growing and managing their business, not studying business law and the Uniform Commercial Code.
If you’re facing a liability case, you will often be well served by your insurance defense team, but if you are interested in hearing a second opinion or securing your own legal team, don’t hesitate to call Edwards & Hawkins at (404) 526-8866.
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