Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. As states reopen, tort reformers and plaintiffs' groups are battling over protecting businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits. A series of class actions alleges major retailers like Amazon and eBay have jacked up prices on essential COVID-19 items. Find out which lawyers represent major insurers hit with COVID-19 coverage lawsuits.

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An employee handles sides of pork on a conveyor at a Smithfield Foods Inc. pork processing facility in Milan, Missouri, U.S. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Fight Erupts Over COVID-19 Liability Shield

As businesses in many states begin reopening, concerns about legal liability are mounting, particularly lawsuits alleging exposure to COVID-19. Georgia's reopening order, for instance, has already raised questions about its liability protections. Tort reform groups are pushing for legislation that would shield businesses by raising the bar to sue for negligence, but the plaintiffs' groups and unions are pushing back.

The battle in Congress comes as more lawsuits hit businesses over COVID-19 deaths. Elizabeth Cabraser (Lieff Cabraser) and Mary Alexander (Mary Alexander & Associates), who already brought a class action against Princess Cruise Lines, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Monday on behalf of a Pennsylvania man who contracted COVID-19 while on board the Grand Princess. Shayan Elahi (Law Offices of Shayan Elahi) filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against Quality Sausage in Dallas on behalf of the wife of one of its meat plant workers who died of COVID-19. President Trump issued an executive order last week designed to protect meat processing companies from lawsuits.

Here's what both sides are saying about a potential liability shield, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling for as part of the next COVID-19 stimulus package:

U.S. Chamber: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform released a national survey that found at least 6 in 10 Americans say Congress should extend liability protections to employers facing potential COVID-19 exposure claims, with 82% agreeing on a shield from negligence, but not gross negligence.

AAJ: The American Association for Justice released its own survey today insisting that most people oppose a liability shield. Their poll indicated that 64% of voters, a mix of Democrats and Republicans, opposed giving guaranteed immunity to companies from lawsuits in cases involving coronavirus infection. Their findings suggested voters feared corporations would "cut corners" on safety precautions, and 61% say that giving businesses immunity from lawsuits in coronavirus cases would result in more people getting the virus.

Headquarters for eBay, located at 2065 Hamilton Ave in San Jose, CA

Price Gouging Claims Hit eBay, Amazon, Costco

A flood of class actions bringing claims of price-gouging amid the COVID-19 pandemic has hit major retailers. On Monday, Adam Moskowitz (The Moskowitz Law Firm), along with AK Law, Sonn Law Group and Bonnett Fairbourn, filed a class action against eBay. On April 21, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro sued Amazon.com for allegedly jacking up prices for essential goods by more than 600%, while Davis & Norris filed a class action on April 20 against Costco, Trader Joe's, Walmart and Kroger, among others, for inflating the price of eggs.

The new lawsuits bring claims under California's consumer law and, in particular, its anti-price gouging statute, which prohibits raising prices of goods and services more than 10% in the 30 days following a governmental declared emergency.

In a statement Tuesday, eBay said:

"Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we have taken significant measures to block or quickly remove items from our marketplace that are unsafe, make false health claims or violate our zero-tolerance price gouging policy. We are making every effort to ensure that anyone who sells on our platform follows local laws and eBay policies."

Who Got the Work?

Lawyers have appeared for more than half a dozen insurance firms in lawsuits alleging they improperly rejected coverage to small businesses facing economic losses due to COVID-19. Plaintiffs' lawyers groups have asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to coordinate more than 60 lawsuits. The defense lawyers appearing before the MDL panel include: Richard Doren (Gibson Dunn) for Travelers; R. Lind Stapley (Soha & Lang) for Oregon Mutual (which, by the way, was sued by San Francisco chef Pim Techamuanvivit on Tuesday in the first class action over COVID-19 business interruption claims); Gregory Hudson (Cozen O'Connor) and Paul Fields (Fields Howell) for Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London; Lori McAllister (Dykema) for Owners Insurance; Paul Roche (Litchfield Cavo) for Cincinnati Financial; Sarah Gordon (Steptoe & Johnson) for The Hartford Financial; Dan Petrocelli (O'Melveny) for Chubb's Westchester Surplus Lines; and Cari Dawson (Alston & Bird) for Liberty Mutual.

Here's what else is happening:

COVID MDLs: Lawyers are asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to coordinate more lawsuits relating to COVID-19. The MDL panel already is considering lawsuits filed against insurance firms over COVID-19 coverage, but Bryan Clobes (Cafferty Clobes) and Joseph Sauder (Sauder Schelkopf) filed an April 29 motion to coordinate 10 lawsuits filed against The Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co. over ski pass refunds, and Rebecca Peterson (Lockridge Grindal), Benjamin Galdston (Berger Montague), Greg Coleman (Greg Coleman Law) and Daniel Bryson (Whitfield Bryson) filed a May 1 motion to combine nine class actions alleging JPMorgan Chase prioritized larger loans as part of the federal government's $348 billion Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses seeking COVID-19 relief.

Trial Ready: A West Virginia judge pushed lawyers to come up with ways to hold asbestos trials next month, complete with masks and gloves. Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson, who oversees the state court cases brought by victims of mesothelioma and lung cancer, issued a May 1 order suggesting ways to conduct voir dire and trial proceedings—that is, if the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals didn't stop him. On Tuesday, the state's highest court did just that. "I have been informed by the Supreme Court that no jury trials can take place in any courtroom in the state of West Virginia until the end of June 2020," Wilson wrote in a Tuesday notice postponing the trials to July 27.

Opioid Do-Over: Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has filed three separate lawsuits against the main distributors of the opiate pharmaceuticals: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. Earlier this year, Hunter filed a single lawsuit against the same three companies in Cleveland County District Court, where he won a $475 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson in the first opioid trial in the nation last year. In February, he voluntarily dismissed the distributor case. He filed the new lawsuits in Bryan County District Court. "The move to Bryan County District Court better represents the overwhelming number of overdose deaths and ongoing addiction crisis in the state's rural communities," according to the AG's press release on May 1.

Thanks for reading Critical Mass! Stay safe, and I'll be back next week.