Class Action Lawsuit Looks to Represent Louisiana Businesses Hurt Economically by COVID-19 Pandemic

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A group of Louisiana businesses has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in search of monetary damages related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit alleges that in addition to the PRC, China’s National Health Commission, Ministries of Emergency Management and Community Affairs, and the governments for Hubei Province and the city of Wuhan engaged in an initial cover-up of the novel coronavirus and thereafter generally “caused and/or contributed” to its spread around the world. As a result of the pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders issued by the federal and states’ governments, Louisiana businesses have sustained damages exceeding hundreds of billions of dollars, the plaintiffs allege. 

In particular, the plaintiff businesses claim the PRC and the country’s co-defendants failed to timely assess, contain, and provide warning of the damage caused by the novel coronavirus at its onset, as well as timely notify the World Health Organization and suspend travel within its borders and internationally. 

Echoing recent putative class actions filed against the PRC by small U.S. businesses, the lawsuit lays out a months-long timeline of events the plaintiffs allege evidences the defendants’ conduct in the run-up to and after COVID-19 became a full-on pandemic. The lawsuit argues that the defendants’ actions and “suppression of information” between late December 2019, when it’s believed people in Wuhan first began to die due to COVID-19, and mid-March, when China reported that the pandemic was essentially under control, have contributed to sustained monetary losses suffered by Louisiana businesses and others across the U.S.

“Defendants are negligent in allowing the said virus to remain undetected and inadequately contained,” the plaintiffs allege.

ClassAction.org’s coverage of putative cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic can be found here and over at our Newswire. Sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.