Emerging Trends In Covid-Related Litigation And Insurance Coverage

Months into the Covid-19 pandemic, patterns of litigation have emerged on a number of COVID-19 related fronts, enough so that law firm Skadden was able to do a systematic analysis, organized around five distinct categories of litigation. This post includes a brief discussion of each, starting with “exposure-based litigation, including negligence, personal injury and wrongful death,” and into contract issues, consumer class actions (including such things as failure to provide refunds for canceled events),  securities litigation, and matters arising out of the CARES Act. The discussion includes strategies for preventing or guarding against these actions, and strategies for addressing them if they arise, with particular attention paid to insurance and what types of policies can potentially be brought to bear.