Milberg, SPG, and Greg Coleman Launch Coronavirus Task Force

Milberg Phillips Grossman LLP (“Milberg”), Sanders Phillips Grossman LLC (“SPG”), Greg Coleman Law, PC (“Greg Coleman”), and Alejandro García Padilla have formed the Coronavirus Litigation Task Force that will investigate suspected wrongdoing related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

President Trump proclaimed a national emergency over coronavirus on March 13. The United States, based on an accelerating caseload, is on track to become the epicenter of the outbreak. Along with the risk of illness, COVID-19 has led to panic buying, economic disruptions, supply shortages, joblessness, and a general atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. At a time when many are coming together to fight a common enemy, a few are exploiting the crisis for financial gain. The Coronavirus Task Force put together by Milberg, SPG, Greg Coleman, and Padilla is designed to root out these bad actors and hold them accountable.

“The schemes we’re seeing around the coronavirus, including price gouging, false product claims, predatory lending, denied insurance claims, and scams are reprehensible during the best of times, and completely despicable during times like these,” said Marc Grossman, a partner at Milberg and SPG. “We will use the combined strength of our law firms to make sure that the people harmed by such behavior are protected.”

Initially, the Task Force’s focus is on medical supply price gouging, business interruption insurance denials, at-risk medical workers, and nursing homes.

There has been a surge in coronavirus-related price-gouging claims across the United States, such as $60 bottles of hand sanitizer, face masks for $40/pair, and $9 gallons of bleach. Price gouging during a health emergency is not only unethical—it’s also illegal. In addition to President Trump’s executive order to prevent medical supply price gouging, many states have anti-price gouging statutes. The Coronavirus Task Force seeks to represent medical facilities and municipalities that are victims of price gouging for essential medical supplies.

Read more on 3M N95 Mask Price Gouging

Business interruption insurance is intended to protect businesses against income losses that result from disruptions to their operations. As a consequence of recent restrictions intended to curb coronavirus, thousands of businesses have experienced partial or total shutdowns. To make matters worse, business interruption policyholders are being told that their insurance doesn’t cover coronavirus. If your business had its interruption claim denied, the Coronavirus Task Force might be able to help.

Medical workers on the front lines of fighting coronavirus deserve our gratitude. More than that, they deserve basic protections to keep them from getting sick themselves and from spreading the infection to the patients they have sworn to protect. Hospitals are responsible for ensuring that nurses understand safety protocols and have access to personal protective equipment, but many facilities lack basics supplies such as N95 respirators. Nurses who have contracted coronavirus due to hospital negligence and those who have been retaliated against for confronting these dangerous policies may have a claim against their employer.

Questions are also being raised about whether those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus—the elderly—are being adequately protected at nursing homes. For example, an outbreak at a Seattle-area senior care center left up to 23 dead. One first responder reported that the facility was woefully understaffed and had inadequate safety gear. The family of a senior who died or was sickened in a nursing home from coronavirus may have legal recourse.

The Task Force’s partners collectively have decades of legal experience and billions of dollars in client recoveries. They will announce specific coronavirus lawsuits and investigations as the pandemic unfolds.

You can learn more about COVID19 lawsuits by visiting our sister firm Sanders Phillips Grossman.