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1 1 (May 08, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdafe0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i% 'N\ x Federal Legislation Shielding Businesses and Individuals from Tort Liability: A Legal and Historical Overview May 8, 2020 When a person believes that he or she has sustained an injury because of someone else's negligent or wrongful conduct, the injured party can potentially file a tort lawsuit seeking money damages from the alleged wrongdoer. In recent months, many plaintiffs have filed tort lawsuits alleging that they contracted COVID-19 or otherwise sustained COVID-19-related injuries because of someone else's unlawful conduct. For example, after a Walmart employee contracted COVID-19 and died, his brother filed a lawsuit alleging that Walmart caused the employee's death by negligently failing to provide him with personal protective equipment, enforce social distancing guidelines, and disinfect the store. Policymakers and commentators have dcbated whether Congress should enact legislation reducing defendants' potential exposure to COVID-19-related tort liability. While some maintain that businesses and individuals need liability protections to induce them to reopen the economy without fear of litigation, others claim that offering such protections would allow businesses to endanger their employees and the public with impunity. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a heafing on May 12, 2020 to explore these issues, and some Mei-lbers have introduced Iegislaion proposing to mnodify the tort liability rules that apply in COVID-19-related cases. Although the development of tort law is left largely to the Statcs, Congress has sometimes enacted federal legislation that shields certain defendants from tort liability. This Sidebar catalogues and briefly summarizes several federal statutes that either insulate particular entities from tort liability or otherwise displace the state tort rules that would ordinarily apply. Given their brevity, the summaries in this Sidebar do not necessarily capture all the nuances of these statutes. This Sidebar also does not comprehensively list all federal tort statutes that preemipt or otherwise affect state tort law. The Sidebar concludes by identifying legal issues that Congress may consider if it decides to enact a similar statute protecting certain entities from COVID-19-related liability-or, for that matter, any statute intended to displace or modify state tort law. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10461 CRS LegzA Sedbai Prepare'd for M, embers and C o m m it'e e s o ; c o q g re s s ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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