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Republicans Really Want To Block You From Suing Corporations Over Coronavirus Exposure

The latest stimulus package proposed by Senate Republicans to address the coronavirus pandemic would dramatically limit the ability of consumers and workers to sue corporations that fail to protect them from the disease.

The GOP effort to grant businesses, schools and hospitals special liability protections is so extreme that consumer and worker advocates say it would do more than just hinder access to the courts ― it would undercut one of the main incentives companies have for trying to limit the spread of the virus.

“They will know they won’t be held accountable,” said Remington Gregg, a lawyer with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. “They’ll cut more corners. They’ll pack more people into meatpacking plants. This would be a disaster for assuring any sort of corporate accountability for workers and consumers and patients.”

Gregg called the proposal “pretty shameful.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made a legislative priority of shielding companies from coronavirus-related lawsuits, despite the economic recovery showing signs of stalling and millions of jobless workers facing the loss of their extra unemployment benefits. The bill rolled out Monday in the Senate as part of a broader coronavirus package would give companies plenty of immunity, though it will face strong opposition in the Democratic-controlled House.

McConnell has warned of an “avalanche” of litigation stemming from the pandemic that could throttle the economy, but so far it hasn’t materialized. According to a COVID-19 complaint tracker from the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, around 3,800 complaints related to the pandemic have been filed in court since March. But only 257 are classified as consumer-related, and only 342 as employment-related. The largest category, with 932, involves insurance.

“There is no flood of lawsuits. It’s a figment of the imagination of Sen. McConnell and [Texas Sen. John] Cornyn and K Street,” Sen....

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