Amid Virus Shield Laws and Workers’ Comp, Lawyers Seek Gaps (1)

Liability shield laws designed to protect businesses from Covid-19 lawsuits are trending again in Republican-majority state legislatures after several were adopted last year, but court arguments in early cases suggest they can be redundant.

Laws like those recently enacted in Alabama and Montana aim to protect businesses from virus exposure litigation. But lawsuits brought by workers against employers are already largely preempted by workers’ compensation laws, and litigation from customers or other visitors to a business already faces the high legal hurdle of trying to prove the source of a person’s coronavirus infection.

“In the law there is duty, breach, ...