New Jersey legislation would limit liability for COVID-19 lawsuits

Despite their best efforts to follow health officials’ evolving guidance, businesses and institutions of higher education are faced with the grim prospect that as they begin returning to in-person work or instruction, some of their employees, students, faculties, and staff will become infected with COVID-19 or require quarantine isolation because of exposure. In recognition of the difficult balancing act between reopening and possible infection, the proposed New Jersey Senate bill S2634 seeks to give some protection against civil lawsuits regarding exposure to COVID-19 or any other related viral strains.

Proposed legislation’s impact

S2634 proposes immunity from civil actions to business entities, nonprofit organizations, and private and public institutions of higher education. The immunity would also extend to trustees, directors, officers, employees, agents, servants, and volunteers. The bill also grants immunity to public entities and their employees.

The proposed legislation is designed to provide an additional level of immunity to businesses or institutions of higher education beyond that to which they are already entitled. The immunity proposed in S2634 is predicated on the fact that businesses and institutions of higher education meet or exceed minimum governmental health and safety measures to mitigate exposure to COVID-19. To claim immunity, the covered entities must assure good-faith compliance with the existing mandates. It’s likely the good-faith compliance will become an evolving standard as more guidance is received from public health agencies and federal, state, and local governments.