Wife of worker who contracted COVID loses case in unanimous decision
Employers cannot be blamed when workers contract COVID-19 on the job and spread it to their household members, according to the California Supreme Court.
In a recent decision, the seven-member court ruled unanimously against a woman named Corby Kuciemba, who filed a lawsuit claiming her husband contracted COVID at his job in 2020 and passed it on to her.
Allowing so-called "take-home COVID" claims could encourage businesses to adopt precautions that slow the delivery of services to the public or to shut down completely during pandemics, Reuters reported, citing the court ruling.
‘Take-home COVID’ case
Robert Kuciemba started working for Victory Woodworks, a furniture/construction company, at a jobsite in San Francisco, after the Health Order was issued.
In the Kuciemba, et al. v. Victory Woodworks case, Kuciemba and his wife Corby Kuciemba claimed that they strictly followed the City's COVID-19 orders, took all the necessary safety precautions, and minimized their contact with others, except for Mr. Kuciemba's frequent interactions with people at Victory's jobsite.
According to the Kuciembas, Victory knowingly transferred workers from an infected construction site to Mr. Kuciemba's jobsite without following the safety procedures mandated by the Health Order. Mr. Kuciemba had to work in close proximity with these employees and contracted COVID-19, which he then brought back home.
Mrs. Kuciemba, who is over 65 years old and at high risk from COVID-19 due to her age and health, tested positive for COVID-19 on July 16, 2020.
Employers ‘would be overwhelmed’
Ruling in favor of Cory Kuciemba would have turned every employer in California into a potential defendant, even when the company had taken reasonable steps to prevent the spread of the virus or when it is impossible to prove that employees contracted COVID at work, Reuters reported, citing the California Supreme Court’s decision.
"Even limiting a duty of care to employees' household members, the pool of potential plaintiffs would be enormous, numbering not thousands but millions of Californians," Justice Carol Corrigan wrote for the court, according to the report.
William Bogdan, a lawyer representing Victory Woodworks, agreed with the court’s decision.
"The court recognized that employers and the courts would be overwhelmed" if it allowed take home COVID lawsuits, Bogdan said, according to the Reuters report.
In another court decision, the COVID-19 presumption in section 3212.88 of California’s Labor Code did not apply in the case of Garcia vs. U.S. Bank; Old Republic, because there was not enough evidence to prove that a deceased employee contracted the virus during an outbreak at the workplace.
