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Employer Owes No Duty To Prevent Spread of COVID-19

The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.

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Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc. (2023) 14 Cal.5th 993, 531 P.3d 924, 310 Cal.Rptr.3d 97

While the Rowland factors' foreseeability factors weigh in favor of imposing a duty of care on employers to take safety measures to prevent employees from contracting COVID-19 and transmitting the disease to family members and others, the public policy factors weigh against finding such a duty of care and they outweigh the foreseeability factors.  Recognizing liability would create staggering risk… Read More