Right now, the business community is working 24 hours per day to get us through the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, the plaintiffs’ bar is also working on laying the groundwork to exploit one of the most dangerous liability-generating events in history. For example, class actions were filed late last month over gym membership fees and college room-and-board fees. The Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) is working to ensure that our economic recovery isn’t derailed by plaintiffs’ lawyers.

We quickly mobilized to advocate liability protections for volunteer health workers and respirator manufacturers, all of which made it into the CARES Act. But that was just the beginning.

ILR and the Chamber’s Litigation Center have convened a cross-sector working group to identify specific liability threats as they emerge, to craft policy solutions, and to advance those solutions in a coordinated way. We are sounding the alarm bells in the media about the emerging liability threats, hosting live events, and releasing research to equip companies with the tools they need to fight back against the plaintiffs’ bar.

We believe that, ultimately, broad liability protections will be necessary at a national level to ensure businesses can return to normal once this health crisis has passed.

American businesses are working hard to fight this crisis, to keep workers employed, and in all too many cases, to survive. Exploitative lawsuits are the last thing they need to worry about.

—Harold Kim, President, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform