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Florida has joined a growing wave of states offering individuals, businesses and other organizations significant protections against Covid-19-related legal claims. But how does Florida’s new law “Civil Liability for Damages Relating to Covid-19” (codified at section 768.38, Florida Statutes) work? And what do businesses need to know and do now?
The law’s practical effect
Begin with the law’s practical effect. The law creates a series of staged legal protections for businesses facing “Covid-19-related claims,” broadly defined to include any “civil liability claim” related to Covid-19. To take an example, allegations that an individual contracted Covid-19 because of a restaurant’s, supermarket’s or movie theater’s negligence fall squarely under the law.
Dr. Rudolph Dorsett. Joyce Valentine. Mercedes Quintero. Patricia Prillmayer.
Those are four of the names behind the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, four of the more than 36,000 Floridians so far claimed by the viral illness.
The four have something else in common: Each contracted COVID-19 as a resident at a nursing home in Polk County, family members say.
Those relatives are now suing the nursing homes, claiming that negligence allowed their loved ones to become infected with the virus that caused their deaths. But a recently enacted Florida law shielding long-term care facilities from liability makes it nearly impossible for such lawsuits to succeed, some legal experts and elder advocates say.
Second of two parts.
Nursing homes and rehabilitation centers care for a highly vulnerable population, and resident deaths are common. Facilities routinely face lawsuits alleging negligence.
The customary standard, legal experts say, is based on what another person or staff would reasonably do in similar circumstances to provide care. That creates a high threshold for negligence claims, and a new law unnecessarily adds protections for nursing homes, said Jack McRay, advocacy manager for AARP Florida.
“It was our position that nursing homes should not be granted COVID civil liability immunity because, first of all, it’s sort of a nonexistent problem,” McRay said. “Florida already has one of the strictest state statutes on bringing tort suits against nursing homes.”
Pig Floyd’s Urban Barbakoa has found a way to keep serving customers despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and founder Thomas Ward says the new COVID shield law will help protect the business from people just looking to file lawsuits. (Spectrum News)
COVID Shield Law Eases Concerns of Central Florida Business Owners PUBLISHED 8:35 PM ET Mar. 31, 2021 PUBLISHED 8:35 PM EDT Mar. 31, 2021
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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. For local businesses still recovering amid the pandemic, a new law shielding them from COVID-related lawsuits is reason to celebrate.
“It makes me feel a little more comfortable that I’m protected, said Thomas Ward, who founded Pig Floyd’s Urban Barbakoa.