PCCJR Update — July 31, 2020

PCCJR-supported SB 1239 has been introduced by Senator Lisa Baker (R), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislation provides safe harbor against liability suits for medical practitioners and facilities, as well as for manufacturers and distributors of personal protective equipment. Pennsylvania’s small and large businesses are also shielded from suits alleging exposure to Covid-19 as they re-open and restart Pennsylvania’s economy.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for Pennsylvania’s health care providers and employers. Business and health care have mobilized to meet the significant demands for treatment and personal protective equipment, while sacrificing revenue and economic viability for the greater good of bending the curve and restoring a healthy balance.

As Pennsylvania continues to re-open, it is important that businesses be allowed to open with the certainty that they will not be liable for claims of COVID exposure. Opening in the face of potential lawsuits over exposure claims impedes our badly needed economic recovery.

SB 1239 protects those making a good faith effort to follow federal or state guidelines issued to prevent and limit the spread of COVID-19. This protection is critical to curb the voracious appetites of plaintiffs’ attorneys looking to blame someone for the pandemic in order to line their pockets! Pennsylvania must not allow our shops, doctors, hospitals, or manufacturers of personal protective equipment to be victimized by the trial bar adage: “where there is a wrong, there is a remedy.” Lawyers second guessing the actions of employers struggling to stay in business while diligently following government recommendations for sanitization will only serve to create more economic devastation, more unemployment, and more pain.