A three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel certified questions to the California Supreme Court in a case brought by Corby Kuciemba, who says she became seriously ill with COVID-19 after her husband was exposed to the virus at his job with Victory Woodworks Inc.
Trade groups have said allowing employers to be held liable for so-called "take-home" COVID infections will prompt lawsuits not only by workers' family and friends, but by anyone infected by that circle of people. Companies including Amazon.com Inc, Walmart Inc, McDonald's Corp, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd have faced similar claims.
Kuciemba's lawyer, Martin Zurada of Venardi Zurada, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did lawyers at Hinshaw & Culbertson who represent Victory.
The 9th Circuit said the key issues in Kuciemba's case — whether the state workers' compensation system covers the COVID infections of employees' spouses and whether employers have a general legal duty to prevent the spread of COVID — have never been addressed by the California Supreme Court, so it should have the opportunity to do so.
Last week, the California Supreme Court declined to take up the workers' compensation issue in a separate case involving a See's Candies Inc employee whose husband died after she transmitted COVID-19 to him.
A state appeals court in the first decision of its kind had ruled that take-home COVID infections are not covered by workers' compensation because they do not stem from a workplace injury to an employee.
But in the 9th Circuit case, a California federal judge had found that Kuciemba's claims were covered by workers' compensation and she could not sue in court.