Missouri Senate passes business protections from COVID-related lawsuits

The Missouri Senate Tuesday approved protections for businesses, churches and health care providers from pandemic-related lawsuits, including actions stemming from exposure to the coronavirus on their premises.

Senators passed the bill 20-13, advancing a top priority of Gov. Mike Parson. But legislators failed to approve an emergency clause that would have made the measure effective immediately upon his signature. As of now, if approved the bill will take effect like all other new laws at the end of August.

The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, and pushed by businesses and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It moved quickly through the Senate, making it to a lengthy floor debate earlier this month. It now goes to the House, where similar versions of the bill have not yet been assigned to a committee.

The bill could be a test of how Parson’s priorities are treated in the lower chamber. The governor made public tensions between himself and House leaders — partly over their handling of COVID restrictions related to his State-of-the-State address in late January.

Parson said in that address that he wanted the liability protection bill to be “the first piece of legislation to hit my desk this year.”

It would protect any business from liability for the spread of COVID-19, or for medical treatment and products sold to combat COVID-19. A plaintiff would have to prove “recklessness or willful misconduct that caused an actual exposure” to the virus, and that the exposure caused personal injury.

The protection extends to a broad range of possible legal actions, including workers suing their employers, consumers suing manufacturers and patients suing medical providers. It creates an “assumption of risk” for people entering businesses and other premises, and carves out protection specifically for churches.

It also would only allow such lawsuits against businesses for two years after an alleged virus exposure and one year after any alleged medical malpractice.

Proponents have said it would protect businesses and employers from “opportunistic” lawsuits during a time of economic stress, but critics say it gives businesses leeway to flout precautions and health regulations.

Parson pushed for it to be taken up by the General Assembly last fall during a special session, but then asked for the issue to be dropped and revisited this year.

Forty other states this year are considering similar laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Last year, Congress failed to pass liability protections for businesses on a federal level despite a push from Senate Republicans, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arguing that COVID-related lawsuits would cause a “second pandemic.”