7 thoughts on “Reopening The Economy”

  1. To riff an old expression, no man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the court is in session.

  2. I work in insurance and I take a different view of tort liability, though not the usual line spouted in the insurance industry. Common law standards are often superior than statutory standards, because they deal with particular cases and only the the facts and circumstances of a particular case. They are not one size fits all as statutory standards are. They are also not so subject to rent seeking behavior as statutory standards inevitably are. So I say it might be better to let lawsuits go forward. Allow the plaintiff’s lawyers and the insurance lawyers hash it out case by case. Let them establish the boundaries under a common law standard of care instead of trusting the elected officials who steered us into this mess in the first place.

    1. If you’re a small business owner, you don’t have the resources to just let the tort lawyers work things out. That’s a one-way express ticket to bankruptcy, especially in those places where Jackpot Justice is standard legal practice.

      1. It’s really not as easy to sue someone as the typical layman would like to believe. Personal injury lawyers as a group and, also, labor lawyers too, are unlikely to take a case if there is neither insurance nor some other, very deep pockets involved. Also, just anecdotally, twice in my life, I have needed to sue and had good chances for recovery, according to the attorneys I actually spoke to; but finding an attorney who was willing to take my case was impossible.

        1. I doubt many small businesses are brave enough to operate without liability insurance. The risk is that there are few limits on how much you can be sued for and your insurance may not be enough to cover the damage award. Given the number of tort lawyers who advertise here on the local news programs (more than any other type of advertiser), I doubt it would be difficult at all to find a lawyer here.

          1. There are numerous types of liability insurance policies.
            Claims resulting from injury/infection in the workplace would fall under Workers Compensation or maybe, just maybe, Employment Practices Liability Insurance. Any other type of liability insurance policy would refuse to adjust or defend against a claim suit arising from injury/infections in the workplace. At least in Texas, where I work, workers comp insurance renders the insured business practically immune from suit. You rarely ever see trial lawyers involved in workers comp claims anymore in Texas.

  3. How would you prove where you got infected? Tests for the virus will find it everywhere once we re-open the businesses that have closed, and if you didn’t get it from your local grocery store yet, then why not?

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