Trial News

Last week, the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide approximately $2.2 trillion in emergency economic relief as the country deals with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump signed the bill on Friday. The legislation includes a variety of provisions that apply to a range of groups impacted by the novel coronavirus, including individuals, small businesses, corporations, hospitals and health care workers, state and local governments, and students.

Among the economic support included in the new law is $350 billion in funding for small business loans through the Small Business Administration. The act waives many of the standard requirements to access these loans, and businesses with 500 or fewer employees located in the United States may be eligible. The loans may be used to cover payroll expenses, such as employee compensation, health care benefits such as sick leave and family leave, mortgage interest payments or rent, and other business-related debts. Further, if certain conditions are met—including retaining employees—a loan could become a grant that would not need to be repaid. The U.S. Department of the Treasury is expected to release guidance this week on interpreting the law, and more details are available at the Small Business Administration’s Resource Center. AAJ is hosting a complimentary webinar tomorrow, March 31, to get members up to speed on the new law’s provisions and how it can help law firms. For more information, click here.

Despite corporate America’s efforts to include broad immunity provisions unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final legislation has limited immunity language directly tied to health care services in response to the ongoing medical crisis—for volunteer health care professionals and respirator manufacturers.

Limited immunity will apply to volunteer health care workers providing health care services within their specialty under the COVID-19 emergency declaration and acting with a good faith belief that anyone they are treating requires health care services. This limited immunity does not extend to acts of gross negligence, recklessness, and criminal or willful misconduct, or to any health care professional acting under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The CARES Act also provides for temporary immunity for respirator manufacturers. The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act—which was enacted in 2005—gives temporary immunity to parties involved in the manufacture and distribution of “countermeasures” deployed in response to an emergency pandemic. Respirators that are approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health will be added to the existing list of countermeasures covered by this temporary immunity.

For more updates and resources related to COVID-19, please visit AAJ’s website.

Kate Halloran is the senior associate editor for Trial.

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