The Covid-19 pandemic has abruptly shaken the business landscape across the United States. In particular, the pandemic’s unprecedented death toll has continued to raise concern over the types of lawsuits that may be filed on behalf of sick employees and their family members who suffered death as a result of the virus.  The legal community is projected to be faced with the next generation of “take home” litigation lawsuits as the families of the employees who have fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic bring suit against their employers.

These Covid-19 wrongful death lawsuits are known as the “take home” lawsuits because they emulate the elements of the “take home” asbestos litigation suits in which a worker would carry asbestos fibers on their clothing from the worksite, return home, and infect others in their homes after close contact.  Similarly, the first known wrongful death lawsuit brought in Illinois, alleges that a woman by the name of  Esperanza Ugalde, passed away of  Covid-19 because her husband contracted the virus while he was working at Aurora Packing Co’s meat processing plant. The complaint alleges that he contracted the virus, brought it home with him, and ultimately infected her—causing her death.  There are an estimated 200,000 U.S. deaths caused by take home Covid-19 infections which could cause businesses up to $21 billion.

However, it seems as though these cases will be difficult for plaintiffs to prove in court, namely because of the causation issue. To be successful in these take home suits, the plaintiff would have to establish that, “businesses failed to implement safety measures, which led to the worker to get sick and to infect the family member.”  In addition, the plaintiffs would need to establish that the infected worker “took precautions to prevent coming [sic] ill from other sources.” Another barrier that plaintiffs would face in light of these new lawsuits are the caps of liability which the U.S. workers compensation system has in place. Although courts are split as to whether a business should be held liable for worker’s family members who contract illnesses, the success of the take home asbestos cases serve as a foreshadowing of the potential success that the Covid-19 take home cases may have in state and federal courts across the United States.