Missouri COVID-19 business liability bills get first committee hearings

(The Center Square) — A bill seeking to grant COVID-19 liability exemptions to businesses and another measure proposing to install similar protections for healthcare providers got their first formal reviews before a Senate panel Tuesday in Jefferson City.

And if first hearing testimony is an indication, business interests are pushing hard for liability exemptions while lawmakers want to move slowly to ensure liability protections don’t give cover to operators to ignore COVID-19 protocols.

Nearly a dozen witnesses testified before the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Tuesday on the merits of Senate Bill 42, proposed by Sen. Bill White, R-Joplin, and HB 51, filed by Rep. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville.

White’s SB 42 includes the three priorities outlined by Gov. Mike Parson in a COVID-19 liability bill to exempt:

Healthcare workers providing necessary care.Manufacturers producing, designing and selling goods directly related to the pandemicProtections for schools, churches, businesses and nonprofits.

Under Luetkemeyer’s proposed SB 51, no individual or entity engaged in businesses, services, activities, or accommodations shall be liable in any COVID-19 exposure action unless the plaintiff can prove by clear and convincing evidence that:

The individual or entity “was not making reasonable efforts in light of all the circumstances to comply with the applicable government standards, regulations, and guidance.”The individual or entity “engaged in gross negligence or willful misconduct that caused an actual exposure to COVID-19.”“The actual exposure to COVID-19 caused the personal injury of the plaintiff.”

SB 51 also proposes protections for the medical and manufacturing industries and requires litigation to filed within a year of the alleged exposure.

Both SB 42 and SB 51 include emergency clauses and would remain in effect as long as Missouri remains under a state of emergency, set to expire at the end of March.

Luetkemeyer, who chairs the committee, said Missouri businesses that follow health guidelines should be shielded from lawsuits or the economy faces a “second crisis” once the pandemic is over.

“There’s still a risk of a second crisis, one caused by endless litigation against frontline healthcare workers and small businesses as they seek to reopen and put their employees back to work,” he told the panel. “If lawsuits persist, many more businesses and jobs will be lost.”

Among those who testified for SBs 42 and 51 were representatives from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Missouri Hospital Association and LeadingAge Missouri.

Among those who spoke against it is Ken Barnes of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA) who said the bills won’t protect businesses from lawsuits but will encourage them to ignore safe practices conversely assuring more lawsuits.

“We don’t believe that, in times of crisis. we can throw the constitution out the window, which is in effect what this legislation would do,” he said. “This is not a pandemic of legal cases; I can’t find a single one that would be covered by this bill. It’s just not an epidemic of lawsuits. If the true nature of this bill is intended to get the economy moving, there are other ways to do it.”

The committee did not act on the bills, which will be heard again before it. The two measures are among 2021 bills Senate committees are getting first formal looks at this week.

The Missouri House, however, is not meeting after adjourning last week to stymie a coronavirus outbreak among its 163 members while the 34-seat Senate moves forward with panel deliberations.

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