COVID-19 Liability Relief is now Law in Ohio
On September 14th, Governor DeWine signed into law H.B. 606, dubbed the “Grant immunity to essential workers who transmit COVID-19” act. This new law takes effect December 14th, is designed to provide immunity to employers and schools for contracting the COVID-19 virus.
More specifically, the law provides:
No civil action for damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property shall be brought against any person if the cause of action on which the civil action is based, in whole or in part, is that the injury, death, or loss to person or property is caused by the exposure to, or the transmission or contraction of, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, or SARS-CoV-2, or any mutation thereof,unless it is established that the exposure to, or the transmission or contraction of, any of those viruses or mutations was by reckless conduct or intentional misconduct or willful or wanton misconduct on the part of the person against whom the action is brought.,
Person is defined as including an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association, a school, a for-profit or nonprofit entity, a governmental entity, a religious entity, or a state institution of higher education.
As noted above, the new law does not provide a liability shield if the conduct in question was reckless, intentional, willful or wanton. While the definitions of the latter three terms are fairly well established in the law, the legislature took the time carefully delineate would be reckless conduct in this situation:
“Reckless conduct" means conduct by which, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the person's conduct is likely to cause an exposure to, or a transmission or contraction of, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, orSARS-CoV-2, or any mutation thereof, or is likely to be of a nature that results in an exposure to, or a transmission or contraction of, any of those viruses or mutations. A person is reckless with respect to circumstances in relation to causing an exposure to, or a transmission or contraction of, MERS-CoV,SARS-CoV, or SARS-CoV-2, or any mutation thereof, when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such circumstances are likely to exist.
The law, which is tied to Governor DeWine’s declaration of a state of emergency is set to expire by September 30, 2021, unless extended. But in the meantime, business owners can breathe a sigh of relief as their exposure to liability if an employee gets sick with the Coronavirus.
To read a copy of the law, click here.
