Second Pandemic of Frivolous Litigation Will Plague Healthcare Workers, Bankrupt Small Businesses

Yesterday on the floor, I discussed the impact frivolous lawsuits would have on small businesses’ ability to survive the coronavirus pandemic and the need for litigation protection legislation. Excerpts of my floor remarks are below, and video can be found here.

Without action in this Congress, this is going to be a familiar story for small business owners, doctors, nurses, first responders, anyone and everyone who could potentially be blamed for another person contracting the virus.

I have no doubt there have been and will be legitimate lawsuits targeting bad actors. If there is willful or reckless disregard for the person affected, they should have every right to sue and be made whole.

The types of liability limitations my colleagues and I are interested in providing would simply prevent frivolous and nuisance lawsuits from harassing our frontline health care workers and small businesses, which were acting reasonably and complying in good faith with health guidelines.

Without limiting liability for our small business owners and workers, our economic recovery will be stunted as a result of the fear of the negative impact of these frivolous lawsuits. That's the situation we need to address and prevent.

And we need to keep them from having to suffer and perhaps not survive this second pandemic that will be caused by opportunistic litigation.