Coronavirus and Personal Injury: The First Revelations


With no vaccine in sight so far, the novel coronavirus has already ravaged industries and economies. In the aftermath of the first surge of victims, lawyers across the country have learned to improvise their case handling methods on the fly resulting in new strategies as well as new revelations on how the “system” has changed. Certain patterns have definitely been noticed and below are a few changes that have come to light:

Immunity statutes: State legislators have wasted no time in introducing immunity statutes meant to defend certain individuals and entities from being sued based on their initial actions at the start of the pandemic as well as future actions taken. These statutes do however have exemptions related to grossly negligent conduct as so many other statutes do. But as we continue to learn more and more about the virus, there are indeed people and companies that arguably ought not to be liable for certain events given that the world knew so little about Covid-19 back then, much less had no framework on how to handle something like this. These statutes have been put into place to defend those who are truly “reasonably” innocent and from there, its discovering the truly negligent that is the important task at hand.

Intensive discovery: The largest companies have been found to have put their employees most at risk, at least that’s what can be found if you look at the amount of coronavirus related lawsuits stacked up against them. That said when forming their cases, lawyers nowadays are intensifying their discovery practices. The goal is to get a picture composed of all their practices in finance, company culture, as well as health and safety measures to get to know the employer’s response to pandemic related concerns or other disastrous events. In doing so, one could add a historical element to their negotiations that’ll lend strength to their case.

Lawsuits against supervisory individuals: Attorneys aren’t just suing whole companies, they’re also suing individual employees where they find it reasonable. With several laws and statutes coming into play, the list of restrictions determining what or who can be found negligent in a Covid-19 related case is growing. There’s a potential conflict of interest that arises when an individual employee is sued and companies will be left with the decision to either get their hands dirty or not out of fear for future retribution and most law firms are choosing to address this early on.

If you or a loved one has been injured during the COVID-19 pandemic, let medical malpractice lawyers Tulsa, OK trusts, such as from Royce Injury Attorneys, represent you for your case. Contact a law firm today.