Companies fear coronavirus liability lawsuits. So far, few exist By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearing on coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington

By Tom Hals

(Reuters) – Businesses are urging U.S. lawmakers to shield companies from what they fear could be a flood of lawsuits by workers and consumers blaming employers for exposing them to the new coronavirus.

But so far, court records show few such cases have been filed and some legal experts say the threat of liability is exaggerated because of the difficulty of proving where someone was infected.

“Those cases haven’t materialized and I doubt they will,” David Vladeck, who teaches civil procedure at the Georgetown University Law Center, said on Tuesday at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a liability shield for businesses.

As of Wednesday, only 45 of 1,018 coronavirus-related lawsuits were personal injury or medical malpractice cases against a business, the areas of most concern for trade groups….