House panel: Renew COVID-19 lawsuit shield for another year
ATLANTA - Georgia lawmakers wrangled for weeks last year before deciding to protect businesses and others from being sued if someone blames them for contracting COVID-19. On Wednesday, a state House committee agreed in a five-minute meeting to renew that protection for another year with no debate.
Members of the House Special Committee on Access to the Civil Justice System advanced House Bill 112 to the full House for more debate on a split voice vote.
The measure would extend the protections to July 14, 2022. They currently are set to expire July 14 of this year.
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Committee Chairman Trey Kelley, a Cedartown Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said the measure is being supported by key business lobbying groups as well as the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, which typically represents plaintiffs lawyers.
"We felt like there needs to be some protection in place for our businesses and venues that try to keep themselves open and try to comply with the guidelines that have been put forth," Kelley said. "It’s important that we keep our economy open and our people working."
Democrats argued last year that the protection is overly broad and should, at most, protect health care institutions.
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Under the law, a business, health care provider or protected entity must display gross negligence, "willful and wanton misconduct" or reckless or intentional infliction of harm to lose a lawsuit. That’s higher than the regular standard of negligence.
Some relatives of people who have died in the pandemic have said they’re being blocked from suing nursing homes, even when state inspections found poor infection control measures, because of the law.
Senators had sought even stronger protections against lawsuits, but agreed to the House version on the last night of the 2020 legislative session.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp exempted hospitals and medical professionals from liability by executive order, but those protections run out when Kemp’s emergency powers expire.
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