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Survey Finds Public Supports Liability Protections for Firms Against Abusive CCP Virus Lawsuits

Big majorities of those responding to a recent poll expressed support for proposals to provide speci..

Big majorities of those responding to a recent poll expressed support for proposals to provide special liability protections for companies stemming from claims linked to the CCP Virus, also known as the novel coronavirus.

Sixty-one percent of those interviewed expressed support or strong support when asked if “Congress should protect many businesses and types of companies from lawsuits being filed related to the coronavirus.”

Thirty percent of the respondents said they “strongly support” such protection, compared to only eight percent who said they “strongly oppose” it.

“The global pandemic has caused tremendous economic harm to our nation. As employers plan to reopen safely and sustainably, the last thing they need is to face a financially crippling lawsuit despite their best effort to comply with public health guidelines,” Institute for Legal Reform President Harold Kim said in an April 5 statement in releasing the survey results.

“Any protections for employers should be targeted, timely, and temporary and no business should be protected from lawsuits for gross negligence,” he said.

Conducted for the U.S. Chamber of Commerces Institute for Legal Reform by the Alexandria, Virginia-based Public Opinion Strategies (POS) April 23-27, the survey interviewed 800 adults and has a margin of error of 3.46 percent.

Support for five more specific forms of liability protection now being considered by Congress was noticeably stronger and spanned across partisan political boundaries.

Eighty-four percent, for example, said they support “protecting businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies, which have been allowed to stay open as essential businesses, from lawsuits related to the coronavirus.” Of those, 66 percent said they “strongly support” such protection.

Only 13 percent opposed such protection, with the remainder either declining to answer or not having an opinion.

Eighty-seven percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats favored such protection.

When restaurants, stores and other businesses are allowed to re-open, 82 percent of the respondents favored not allowing lawsuits filed by individuals who claim “they contracted the coronavirus at that place of business unless the business was grossly negligent.”

That position was opposed by 15 percent of the respondents, according to POS.

The partisan split showed 85 percent and 79 percent support, respectively, from Republicans and Democrats.

In situations in which an employee shows symptoms that may indicate the presence of the coronavirus, 74 percent of the respondents said they would favor protecting the employer who asked such workers to remain at home.

Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would oppose such employer protection.

Four out of five, 80 percent, of Republicans supported such protection and 72 percent of the Democrats did as well.

Three out of four of the respondents, 75 percent, said they believe “hand sanitizer companies, soap companies, and other cleaning supply companies [should be protected] from coronavirus lawsuits, while 22 percent said they oppose such protection.

Seventy-eight percent of Republicans and 73 percent of Democrats would favor this protection.

On the sensitive issue of protecting individual privacy, 62 percent of the respondents said they believe companies should not be vulnerable to litigation for responding to government requests for health information “about which employees have the coronavirus, are sick now, or have recovered from the virus.”

Thirty four percent opposed such protection, including 19 percent who said they would “strongly oppoRead More From Source
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