PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Plans for a lawsuit against a venue in Maine that hosted what has become a superspreader wedding reception highlights the risks of small business liability amid the coronavirus pandemic and rising pressure from Republicans in Congress to provide such outfits legal immunity.
Behemoths like Walmart and Tyson Foods, which have been the target of COVID-19 lawsuits, can largely absorb any losses. But hundreds of cases of negligence have been filed across the country, with the mother and the pop being the most fearful of the prospect of a dispute that could subject them.
“They can lose even if they win a lawsuit,” said David Clough of the National Federation of Independent Enterprises, because costly litigation can bankrupt small businesses that don’t have deep pockets.
For the Big Moose Inn family hotel in Millinocket, Maine, this is not a theoretical issue. The properties of at least three nursing home residents whose deaths were linked to a wedding reception there in August are intended to sue the inn and nursing home, said family lawyer Timothy Kenlan.
The wedding and reception caused outbreaks that infected at least 180 people and killed at least eight people, state officials said. Seven of those who died were residents of the Maplecrest Asylum in Madison, Maine, whose lawyer declined to comment.
A notice of the claim indicates that damages will be claimed from the inn for hosting an event in which Kenlan claims to have violated state security protocols during a pandemic.
“What stands out here is bad behavior. They put the profits before the people, “Kenlan said. “They broke the rules.”
Paul Brown, a lawyer for the Big Moose Inn, said there was no way to prove that the wedding reception was the source of the infections. There were several other events, including an outing to a lake and the wedding itself to a nearby church, which were just as likely to have been the source of the infections, he said.
The number of guests at the inn’s reception exceeded the state limit of 50, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. But Brown claims the business tried to break the rules by splitting the reception into two groups of less than 50, so there was no violation, he said.
During the reception, the signs warned guests to wear masks and keep their distance, but there was no warrant at that time to apply these rules.
A national trial tool by Hunton Andrews Kurth indicates that more than 6,000 coronavirus complaints have been filed across the country.
Many involve attacks against pandemic restrictions, while others have targeted banks and insurers and there have been thousands of other workers’ compensation claims, said Alexandra Cunningham of the law firm Richmond, Virginia.
But a much smaller number – about 270 individual trials – are illegal claims of death, personal injury or safety at work, mainly targeting cruise ships, meat processing plants and other businesses, including nursing homes, she said.
Trials tend to focus on the most egregious cases.
A lawsuit involving a Tyson Foods plant in Iowa said workers lack masks and are forced to work closely together, while managers bet on how many workers will become infected during a coronavirus outbreak. Tyson investigated in response to the lawsuit and fired seven managers.
Walmart is the subject of an unjust death trial after a worker died of COVID-19 complications in March. A process of collective action targets McDonald’s. ACLU sued on behalf of workers at a Nebraska packing pants. And a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by workers in Amazon warehouses.
“Although there are very few cases, these cases are really important because they are critical cases of worker safety,” said Julia Duncan of the American Justice Association, who represents the trial’s lawyers.
These large corporations can withstand a lawsuit better than small businesses such as the Big Moose Inn, for which legal fees and damages could be paralyzing.
Republican efforts to protect businesses from legal liability were a critical point in Congress over a $ 900 billion pandemic aid package.
Many Democrats oppose a shield of responsibility and say the Trump administration has already given companies the benefit of safety issues by relaxing worker protections.
The issue of accountability has been put aside for the time being, but will return in the new year, and state lawmakers are likely to weigh in as well, said Clough, director of the National Federation of Independent Affairs, which represents nearly 3,000 small, independent people. Maine business.
Before the issue of liability was put aside, the discussion focused on corporate immunity, except in cases of “gross negligence”, which lawyers in the process criticize as a fanciful way to take full responsibility for virus processes. There were not enough lawsuits to justify special protections, say lawyers in the lawsuit.
While the spectrum of lawsuits disturbs business owners, it can be difficult for applicants to prove that they caught the virus at a particular location or to be negligent as the rules and safety guide have evolved. Masks, for example, were not initially recommended; they are now recommended and sometimes mandated.
The lawsuit requires a plaintiff to prove both injury and negligence – that an entity failed to protect someone from a reasonably foreseeable event, said Jim Burke, a professor emeritus at the University of Maine Law School.
Demonstrating where someone contracted the virus is essential to winning a lawsuit, and that was difficult even before the virus last grew, Burke said. “As the community spreads, it will become harder to prove causation,” he said.
For the Big Moose Inn, his lawyer believes a form of liability protection is warranted.
“If a company meets the requirements, does everything it can, strives to keep employees and guests safe, then there should be a shield of responsibility,” Brown said. “If they work hard and try, they should not be penalized for something that is really out of their control.”
Many lawyers are probably waiting to see how lawsuits like the one against the Big Moose Inn go ahead, Cunningham said.
The statute of limitations for such negligence claims is generally two to three years, she said.