A Devastating Virus Can Make for a Difficult Lawsuit
If you get sick from COVID-19, you likely want to learn how and where you acquired the virus and may want to know whether you can sue for coronavirus exposure in Colorado. If you or a loved one joins the millions of Americans infected with COVID-19, you face a devastating illness, the possibility of a lengthy and expensive hospital stay, and long-term health consequences.
Of course, coronavirus takes hundreds or thousands of lives each day as well. If all of these consequences are someone else’s fault, shouldn’t you be able to hold them accountable? Shouldn’t they bear the costs of your treatment and the pain, suffering, and loss you experience?
While the answer to those questions should, in theory, be yes, the reality is that it is extremely difficult to sue for coronavirus exposure. The nature of the virus and how it is transmitted, along with the burden of proof in personal injury cases, can make it almost impossible to pin the blame on a specific person or entity.
How Can You Sue for Coronavirus When it Travels Through the Air, Remains On Surfaces, and Comes From All Directions?
As we all know by now, COVID-19 is exceptionally contagious and transmittable. It travels through the air and lingers on surfaces. The virus can pass through droplets from the mouth and nose or circulate in the ventilation systems of enclosed spaces. Because of the high level of contagion, we all should wear masks, wash our hands, maintain social distancing, and avoid large gatherings.
But the many ways and ease with which we can acquire coronavirus are why establishing liability for someone’s exposure and illness proves so challenging.
To Sue for Coronavirus, You Need to Prove Who Exposed You
If you sue for coronavirus in Colorado, you do so in a personal injury lawsuit. This is the same kind of suit filed in car accidents, slips and falls, and medical malpractice cases. In such lawsuits, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant caused their injuries and losses. But the plaintiff must back up those allegations with proof.
In a typical Colorado Springs personal injury case, the identity of the person allegedly responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries is usually not an issue. The other driver, the owner of the property where the injury occurred, the doctor who performed the surgery – the plaintiff knows who they are. The issue is whether they acted negligently or breached a duty to the plaintiff and whether that negligence or breach of duty caused the plaintiff’s injuries.
So Many Possible Avenues of Exposure Make it Almost Impossible to Identify the Source
But how can you sue for coronavirus in Colorado if you can’t even identify how and when you were exposed, much less who exposed you to COVID-19? Even under quarantine, most of us still go out to the grocery store or the gas station. Many of us continue to go to work each day, interacting in close quarters with coworkers and customers. We open doors, touch the keypads on credit card readers, and come into contact with other surfaces with the potential to transmit the virus.
Given these many avenues of exposure, proving that one particular individual or location was responsible for your illness – to the exclusion of all other possibilities – is a high evidentiary burden to meet.
But let’s say that someone who knows they have COVID-19 disregards health and safety protocols and acts in ways likely to transmit the virus. They come into close contact with someone who eventually gets sick with coronavirus. If the person who becomes ill after their exposure to the infected person has stayed home and only had minimal contact with others, they may have a viable, though far from easy, claim.
Similarly, Colorado Springs employees and patrons of companies that fail to follow applicable health and safety rules relating to coronavirus transmission may have a claim for negligence, but the issue of proof still remains. And several states, though not Colorado, passed laws earlier in the pandemic shielding many businesses and employers from liability for coronavirus exposure.
King & Beaty: Here for Injury Victims During Challenging Times
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended so much of our lives. But some things haven’t changed. Negligent drivers still cause car, motorcycle, and truck accidents, people still trip and fall while at an unsafe property, and other incidents leave individuals and families struggling with serious injuries.
What also has not changed is the commitment that the experienced Colorado Springs personal injury attorneys at King & Beaty bring to our clients. We fight tirelessly for the rights of injury victims, getting them the compensation and resources they need and deserve.
Please contact us today to arrange for your free initial consultation.
