Tennessee Republicans are making permanent a rule to shield businesses from COVID-related litigation

Tennessee Republicans are taking temporary rules and making them permanent to try to shield businesses from COVID-related litigation, along with other COVID-era protections. The legislation is moving quickly, and with little debate.

This law, meant to reduce legal liabilities for businesses related to COVID, passed during a special session. The thinking was that families might go after hospitals if loved ones died, especially if there were experimental procedures or short staffing.

There have been some lawsuits related to COVID victims. One was filed in Davidson County in December 2022 by the family of a 44-year-old father who went into Ascension Saint Thomas with COVID and died from a procedure that the lawsuit says was botched. An Ascension spokesperson declined to comment on that pending litigation.

It’s unclear whether the COVID liability waiver would apply. But the liability protections have not been tested much in the courts, says attorney Buckner Wellford of the law firm Baker Donelson, who regularly represents Tennessee hospitals and has followed the changes to state law.

“The longer we are out from under a lot of the immediacy of the COVID staffing issues and various other things, probably the less likely it is that it’s going to be a live issue,” he says.

The legislation (SB0011) making liability protections permanent, sponsored by Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, also extends other provisions passed in a special session in 2021. Those include restrictions on mask and vaccine mandates. All would be made permanent upon passage.