When someone is found responsible for causing damages to a party’s health or finances, the U.S. law allows reparations to be provided. In order to receive compensation, the offended party must file a lawsuit, and if the court finds his or her request to be reasonable, litigation ensues.
It comes to no surprise then that since the current COVID-19 outbreak is causing so much damage to countless people and companies across the country, someone would think that a culprit had to be found.
Last Thursday, an American citizen eventually took the matter to heart, and quite literally, decided that China had to be held responsible for the global pandemic. Together with his attorney, plaintiff Matthew Moore, of Boca Raton, Florida filed a nationwide class action against the People’s Republic of China (PRC), blaming them for the coronavirus outbreak.
Although this civil action arguably looks like a frivolous one, it can’t be denied that if it gains enough traction, it could easily become a nationwide case. And with millions of people and enterprises being involved in terms of damage, injuries, and losses related to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, it’s easy to understand how the number can quickly scale up.
According to Moore’s lawsuit, China failed to contain the virus and to fully warn the public about the enormous dangers of a pandemic. The PRC allegedly acted too slowly, didn’t take appropriate measures to contain the outbreak within their borders, and covered the real threat up in order to protect their economic self-interest.
Their selfish conduct has caused and will continue to cause countless deaths, personal injuries, emotional distress, psychological trauma, public nuisance, and financial damages leading to the accusation of “conducting ultrahazardous activity.” Other than individual people whose health is threatened, businesses are suffering as well. The strict lockdowns enforced in many states significantly reduced the number of customers, and the spreading of public pain is causing disruptions to supply chains and scarcity of essential goods.
The plaintiffs who filed the class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida did not contract coronavirus. In their litigation, they included several Chinese health and emergency departments and officials who were allegedly negligent in acting to contain the COVID-19 outbreak within the city of Wuhan and the Hubei province. Their claim cites several exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, including commercial activities conducted outside the American soil.
Since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, the number of infected kept spiking day after day. Even famous people like Boris Johnson, Tom Hanks, and Prince Johnson have tested positive for the virus, although some of them recovered already.
As of April 02, 2020, nearly one million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded across the world, and the death toll nearly reached the 50,000 mark. However, the pandemic didn’t reach its peak yet, and sadly, the count is expected to rise exponentially in the upcoming weeks.
