AAJ Fights Corporate Liability Immunity Bill

AAJ Fights Corporate Immunity

The American Association for Justice or AAJ is fighting the Republican proposal to give corporations immunity. For as long as I have been a lawyer fighting for clients in Spartanburg, S.C., I’ve never seen a bill like “Safe to Work Act”. It’s the most severe eradication of workers’ and consumers’ rights ever introduced in Congress—or at the state level.

The ironically named Safe to Work Act would actually decimate the rights of workers, consumers, and patients to pursue all cases that are tangentially related to COVID-19. Our opposition is total.

The bill would essentially wipe out medical malpractice cases for the next five years, and:

• moves all COVID-19 exposure, injury, or death claims to federal court;
• plaintiffs must prove that a business acted with conscious disregard because of an extremely heightened gross negligence standard;
• plaintiffs would have to meet raised evidentiary burdens including proving their cases by “clear and convincing evidence;”
• preempts all state laws including tort law but for those that are LESS protective of individuals;
• suspends federal employment and disability rights statutes such as the ADA, the Civil Rights Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act for five years;
• eliminates joint and several liability in most COVID-19 cases; and
• eliminates or severely limits non-economic damages in many health-related claims including nursing home claims.

A Danger to America’s Workers and Consumers

Republican Senators Cornyn and McConnell want to remove all liability—the most effective, and often the only protection that workers, patients, and consumers have to encourage businesses to act reasonably and promote safety. AAJ will fight the effort for immunity.

If Congress gives corporations broad liability immunity, workers and families will have no remedy when corporations act negligently or recklessly or fail to protect them from the virus.

Contact your member of Congress and urge them to reject this destructive bill.

Watch this newly released Lincoln Project video on this issue. Please share widely.

And share AAJ’s video, too!