Update on Kuciemba and Civil Liability for WC Covid19
Happy Monday dear readers!
Here we are again and today the WCAB is back to in-person hearings and trials. Your humble blogger has reports from the first few practitioners who have had in-person trials again and here is the video with a description of what life is like back at the Board in person:
Thanks to all my beloved readers who managed to attend the COVID19 update last week. If you missed it and would like an encore for your office, please drop me a line!
As one attendee pointed out, there is an updated in the Kuciemba case. As you may recall, the Federal trial judge in the Kuciemba matter dismissed plaintiffs claims, reasoning that California law does not allow an employee’s spouse to sue the employer for negligent COVID19 exposure, instead limiting damages to the workers’ compensation system.
Well, the plaintiffs in Kuciemba appealed, and oral arguments were held on March 10, 2022. It appears that the 9th Circuit panel is considering a “wait-and-see” approach to hear from the California Supreme Court for guidance.
In other words, the issue of employer COVID19 liability to non-employees is not resolved or certain yet. We should continue to monitor the situation, but your humble blogger respectfully submits that we, on the workers’ compensation side of things, should be making sure we don’t cut corners that might prejudice the civil side of things. In other words, don’t let this picture be you!
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about when assessing a COVID19 workers’ comp case, but, to quote Mr. Hyman Roth, “this is the business we’ve chosen.”