A woman in California took her husband’s employer to court after both she and her husband tested positive for COVID-19. She believes her husband brought the novel coronavirus into their home after being subjected to an unsafe environment at work, according to this article from Fox Business.
The attorney representing the company the husband works for has been working to get the case dismissed, claiming that no employer can be held as responsible for any possible virus every single employee might take home. The wife, on the other hand, claimed the company knew some employees were infected and did nothing about it, creating a dangerous working environment. Both husband and wife became very ill as a result of the virus and had to be hospitalized.
The husband’s case is being handled through worker’s compensation, while the wife is pursuing things in open civil court.
A fatal blow to the entire case was the fact that the couple could not say with any scientific certainty that they contracted her husband contracted the virus from work and passed it to her. It’s entirely possible, the company’s lawyer argues, that they were infected in some other way.
Finally a federal judge in California dismissed the case, ruling that the wife had no legal ground for her claims. Negligence could not be established.