First Coronavirus Lawsuit Against Business Is Filed, More Expected to Follow Shortly
Authors:
David N. Anthony, Partner, Troutman Sanders
John “Jed” E. Komisin, Associate, Troutman Sanders
Richard J. Zack, Partner, Pepper Hamilton
On March 9, 2020, Ronald and Eva Weissberger filed suit against Princess Cruise Lines LTD in the Central District of California claiming damages in excess of $1 million based on the alleged negligence and gross negligence of Princess Cruise Lines in allowing Plaintiffs to be potentially exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19).
Plaintiffs allege Princess Cruise Lines had actual knowledge of an unreasonable risk of COVID-19 exposure to its passengers on the Grand Princess cruise ship, on which the Plaintiffs were passengers. Princess Cruise Lines allegedly operated the Diamond Princess cruise ship which suffered a COVID-19 outbreak off the coast of Japan in February 2020. Plaintiffs allege that a passenger or passengers leaving the Grand Princess cruise ship immediately prior to Plaintiffs’ departure had COVID-19 symptoms, that 62 passengers on Plaintiffs’ cruise were on the voyage with those individuals with symptoms, and that Princess Cruise Lines did not notify passengers of this risk of exposure prior to departure and failed to adopt adequate screening measures for passengers boarding the ship. Combined with its knowledge gained in its handling of the Diamond Princess ship in Japan, Plaintiffs allege this conduct constitutes negligence and gross negligence. Notably, the Complaint does not specifically allege Plaintiffs have contracted COVID-19.
Businesses should expect similar suits to follow and proactively adopt measures to minimize legal exposure. Businesses should include the following non-exhaustive factors:
- Compliance with all directives from the government relating to closures and bans on gatherings of certain sizes;
- Adopting protocols for responding to any actual or constructive knowledge of infection risk. The “reasonableness” of conduct under the circumstances is usually fact-intensive and modification of cleaning/disinfection procedures, screening/reporting of symptoms consistent with COVID-19, policies of sending sick employees home and isolating/removing potentially infected individuals, and modifying business practices to lower exposure risks are all factors that could be weighed in the business’ favor; and
- Conspicuous notifications of any risk of exposure both mitigate the potential harm of exposure and could potentially be admissible for defenses of contributory/comparative negligence and/or assumption of the risk to any negligence action.
Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton continue to monitor developments in this area.