The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
At least 40 COVID-19 related lawsuits filed in CT
Half of the state’s suits involve insurance disagreements
A lawsuit by a Milford pub challenging the state’s authority to close bars is among more than 3,000 coronavirus-related complaints filed nationwide, a Hearst investigation shows.
The Milford suit, filed by Kristine Casey, owner of Casey’s Irish Pub, claims Gov. Ned Lamont lacked authority to issue executive orders in March that shuttered bars and restaurants across the state in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The lawsuit asks the court to allow the bar to reopen, noting that “Casey is hemorrhaging personal savings and borrowing from her father to try to stay afloat” given she is earning no revenue yet still faces a $3,200 a month rent payment and other obligations.
“(Casey) has not been able to secure any loans through the Small Business Administration,” the suit says. “She is fast running out of funds and the shutdown forced
upon her by the governor's executive orders will put her out of business if it continues much longer, causing the plaintiffs irreparable harm.”
A similar suit was filed by Roxy’s Nails Design in Hartford over closure of that business.
Attorney General William Tong has said Lamont’s executive orders are legal under the state declaration of a public health emergency and is defending challenges of the various provisions.
In Connecticut, at least 41 other lawsuits have been filed related to the health emergency, including six lawsuits related to inmates, and a federal class-action complaint brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Nationwide, around 18 percent of the COVID-19 suits allege civil rights violations — including regarding businesses being deemed essential or non-essential, voting and challenges to bans on social gatherings.
More than 550 lawsuits involve inmates or confinement conditions, according to the database. Lawyers and advocates have raised concerns during the pandemic about jails and prisons, where inmates live in close proximity
to each other.
One estimate compiled by the Marshall Project and the Associated Press earlier this month found at least 46,249 inmates have fallen ill from the coronavirus nationwide, and at least 548 have died.
The remaining lawsuits fall under categories that include labor and employment (224), consumer cases (209) and real estate property (179).
Nearly a quarter of the suits filed around the country involve disputes over insurance matters, according to a database maintained by Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, a Richmond, Va.-based law firm that has been tracking legal actions brought in the wake of the pandemic.
In early June, the ACLU announced it reached an agreement with the state that would require the Department of Correction to expedite the release of medically vulnerable inmates and those over the age of 65. The agreement also ensured inmates would have access to soap and cleaning supplies, as well as COVID-19 testing.
The ACLU filed a similar suit in state Superior Court in April, calling for the release of inmates amid the pandemic. That effort was dismissed by a judge later that month.
The database also includes a lawsuit brought by a gun rights group, claiming Lamont’s restrictions on fingerprinting violated the plaintiff ’s second amendent rights. In early June, a federal judge ordered a preliminary injunction against the governor’s order suspending fingerprinting, which is required to apply for a Connecticut gun permit.
Half of the suits in Connecticut involve insurance disagreements.
Nearly a dozen of those complaints involve disputes over whether insurance companies should have to cover business losses sustained as a result of the pandemic, according to the database.
Eleven other lawsuits allege civil rights violations. In one, six business owners — including
Republican state Sen. Rob Sampson — allege Lamont’s restrictions on non-essential businesses denied their rights to assemble, equal treatment under the law and due process.
One suit filed in the state claims patients held in a psychiatric hospital are medically fragile and should be released— the only medical lawsuit related to the coronavirus in Connecticut, according to the database.
Only one lawsuit alleges employment violations in Connecticut related to the pandemic.
A suit filed June 10 in state Superior Court in New Haven alleges a woman was wrongfully fired in April from her job coordinating and routing ambulance calls for American Medical Response of Connecticut, less than two weeks after she contacted the New Haven health department about a co-worker’s coronaviruslike symptoms.
When asked by the former employee, management refused to contact the health department for guidance, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges the woman’s supervisor told her the transmission risk was low because the other employee “had been without fever for 72 hours.”
AMR did not respond to a request for comment.