COVID-19 Litigation Will Require Many Different Types Of Expert Witness

Pandemic-related Litigation

This article contains good early information about COVID-19 litigation, which will impact many different practice areas and require many different types of expert witnesses, including medical experts. Expert Witness Doctors has a panel of highly qualified physicians located across the United States.

We encourage you to read the article in its entirety but here are some of the highlights.

First Wave of Litigation

The initial salvo of lawsuits filed as a result of COVID-19 were predictable. The targets were in the headlines: cruise lines, managed-care facilities, big-box retailers deemed essential businesses, and, of course, the insurance industry. Princess Cruise Lines was sued in federal court in San Francisco while it was still disembarking passengers from the COVID-19-impacted Grand Princess cruise ship. The daughter of a woman who died of coronavirus at the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Washington filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the parent company claiming that the facility covered up the outbreak. Both cruise ships and nursing homes were hotspots during the first stage of the pandemic, and these two incidents are often considered starting points for COVID-19 in California and Washington. Lawsuits for wrongful death and bodily injuries based upon failure to warn and negligence theories are expected to multiply rapidly.

Directors and Officers and Securities

The pandemic has impacted every corporation in every sector of the economy, too. Hard decisions must be made with regard to workplace safety, layoffs and furloughs, investments, financing, and business planning.

Challenges to corporate governance will follow. These suits may be retrospective, focusing on alleged failures with regard to disaster preparedness, insurance coverage, and contingency planning; or they will be prospective, challenging ongoing management, financial, and operational decisions.