Can You Sue Someone Who Gives You COVID-19 In Florida?
Corbin Sutter
Accident Lawyers
Florida, like the rest of the country, and the world, is finally seeing the end of the pandemic on the horizon as vaccines have been developed and more people get them. However, unlike other parts of the United States, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise due to the “Delta Variant” and rapidly spreading among a population that is both more vulnerable due to age and more contagious due to a lower rate of vaccination.With all this to be careful of, it’s no wonder that many people are still concerned about not contracting the illness or passing it on to loved ones, especially elderly parents who are more susceptible. But what happens if contract COVID-19 and it’s not your fault? Is there something you can do?
A Short But Complicated Answer
The technical answer to the question, “Can you sue someone for giving you COVID-19 is “yes.” But as simple as that answer is, it is full of specific legal conditions that make the process of litigation very difficult to pull off successfully. But first, let’s look at the basics.
If you were to sue someone for giving you COVID-19, you would do so as a personal injury lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit has three requirements to have a good chance of succeeding in
court. These requirements are:
An Injury You Are Victimized By
First and foremost, of course, you need an injury that will satisfy the verification process of the court and is not your fault. If you were performing tricks on a motorcycle, for example, and injured yourself due to this horseplay, no court would hear the case, even though you have medical records and a diagnosis from a doctor certifying that the injury is real.
However, if you were operating a motorcycle, obeying all traffic laws, and suddenly woke up in a hospital unable to recall what happened, that would be different. Now, if your recollection or eyewitness accounts say you were hit by another vehicle, that’s not your fault.
The same is true with COVID-19. No one can deny the professional legitimacy of a medical diagnosis certifying you have COVID-19. However, if you got it by knowingly visiting someone with COVID-19 and sharing a drinking glass, this would disqualify you.
Breach Of Duty Of Care
“Duty of care” is a legal obligation that means someone is required, within a situation’s context, to act in a reasonably safe manner or maintain a reasonably safe environment. For example, for people driving, operating a vehicle while sober and alert, not taking excessive risks such as using a phone to text messages, or trying stunt driving with other cars present. For a homeowner, this might mean supervising young children during a pool party instead of letting them play in the water with no adults around when they can’t all swim.
Breaching the duty of care means a risk was introduced into the situation that people were aware of but consciously chose to ignore the possible threat the risk brought. Someone who doesn’t lock up an aggressive dog, for example, is breaching duty of care by allowing children to interact with that dog when there’s a high chance it will attack.
In the case of COVID-19, this means that there must be a risk of contracting that virus that a person is aware of, but they deliberately chose to ignore. People who don’t even know they are sick, such as the asymptomatic carriers, aren’t even aware a risk was present.
Connection Tying Breach Of Duty Of Care To Injury
The final component is the toughest one to secure in any case, providing compelling evidence for a judge or jury that the breach of duty of care is the direct cause for the injury that has been sustained. In other words, there must be convincing proof that it was the deliberate act of negligence that directly led to being victimized with an injury.
In the case of COVID-19, there are specific but rare scenarios that would be strong contenders for a lawsuit. For example, suppose someone was committed to not getting a vaccine, was then diagnosed with COVID-19, and told by doctors to self-quarantine and not pass the virus onto others. If this person then ignored the quarantine, went up to you, told you they had a “hoax virus,” and then deliberately coughed on you and told others in the area that now you had it too, you may have a case. This is especially true if you met with no other people that had the virus, and that person was the only possible point of contagion.
On the other hand, if you got COVID-19, and you don’t even when, or where you could have contracted it because you voluntarily exposed yourself to multiple contagion opportunities, there’s little chance that could go to court or would be a case taken up by a personal injury attorney.