Five Floridian plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
The coronavirus class action lawsuit was filed by Logan Alters, Marta Reyes, Lawrence Wood, Stephen Clyne, and The Pitching Lab, also known as TBT Training.
The five plaintiffs argue that it was due, at least in part, to the Chinese government’s mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak that the issue turned into a worldwide pandemic.
They seek to represent two Classes of people affected by the outbreak — a Class of all those in the United States affected by the outbreak, and a subclass of parties in Florida affected by the outbreak.
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None of the plaintiffs have caught the coronavirus, but according to the pandemic class action lawsuit, they were still injured by the outbreak.
The coronavirus class action claims that people throughout the state of Florida, and people throughout the country were injured even if they have not been infected. They say the virus has taken an economic toll on the United States, and has caused panic, emotional distress and other injuries throughout the country.
Specifically, the plaintiffs have filed claims against the People’s Republic of China, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Government of Hubei Province, and the People’s Government of City of Wuhan, China.
These governmental bodies were reportedly in charge of overseeing the response to the coronavirus pandemic in China, and within the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province, where the outbreak originated.
The Floridians note that it has not been confirmed how the outbreak spread to what it is today, but regardless, the Chinese government did not handle the issue correctly. They also claim that their actions allowed many people around the world to be affected.
The coronavirus class action lawsuit states that a new strain of the virus, known as COVID-19 originated in China in December 2019, and quickly spread throughout the world.
The Floridians present one theory alleging that COVID-19 spread from a bio-weapon lab and then into a nearby marketplace. Allegedly, there are only two bio-weapon labs in the People’s Republic of China, and one of them is the National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to the coronavirus pandemic class action lawsuit, this laboratory is close to the marketplace where COVID-19 originated. This laboratory is reportedly China’s only “level 4” microbiology lab, dealing with “the deadliest of viruses.”
The COVID-19 outbreak states that one theory is that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab because of lax security, or because Chinese researchers unlawfully sold lab animals to the marketplace nearby.
Researchers in China have allegedly been known to do this instead of cremating them, as is required by Chinese law.
No matter how the disease spread, the Florida residents argue the Chinese government did not respond appropriately to the outbreak.
Allegedly, the government put the safety of people around the world at risk, choosing instead to act “from their own self interest” and to “protect their place as a super-power.”
The government did not report the outbreak as quickly as they could have, underreported cases, and did not contain the outbreak effectively, even though they knew how serious the outbreak was, the plaintiffs say.
Elaborating on these allegations, the Floridians argue that the Chinese government censored eight doctors on Jan. 1, 2020 from speaking about the outbreak and the danger associated with it. The coronavirus outbreak class action argues that even after the first person died of a COVID-19 infection on the same day, the government concealed the true dangers of the coronavirus.
The plaintiffs state that the Chinese government told the public the outbreak was under control. However, the government allegedly knew the virus was spread easily from human to human by Jan. 3 but concealed this information until Jan. 20, by which point the disease had already spread beyond China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he had taken measures to contain the virus on Jan. 7, but he reportedly lied in saying this, and did not take steps to contain the virus until later in the month.
Additionally, the Florida residents argue that the Chinese government waited 17 days to share the 19 genome sequence of coronavirus with peers around the world, after it had been discovered by Chinese researchers.
The plaintiffs claim that the Chinese government downplayed the severity of the virus by saying that deaths associated with coronavirus were instead caused by pneumonia.
The coronavirus response class action lawsuit says that this has caused injury to United States and potential Floridian Class Members not only in the form of infection by the virus, but in the form of fear, lost social contact, financial injury, emotional distress, and more.
The Class Members are represented by Matthew T. Moore and Vincent J. Duffy of The Law Offices of Berman & Berman PA.
The Coronavirus Outbreak Class Action Lawsuit is Logan Alters, et al. v. People’s Republic of China, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-21108-UU, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division.
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305 thoughts onCoronavirus Class Action Blames China for Pandemic
Add me, airline worker and Florida resident
Add me as a claimant. I’m currently out of work and nobody is hiring right now because of this outbreak. China is a disgusting and filthy place.
This is the second time they’ve caused something like this and it has wrecked peoples lives.
You have support from this Brit!
add me in me and my family have heard from multiple sources this is a biological weapon created or mishandled by china’s government
Add me
I have been affected!! I work directly across the street from the FORD Wayne Assembly plant and one person has been diagnosed. Who knows if I have stood by him at the gas station or even used the same pump as him!!
My daughter also works at a plant that one of her co workers has the Corona and we just found out yesterday. She has been exposed and she was with me 3 days in a row this week!
I can find NO groceries or paper products in the stores. I have been trying to find bread for 5 days now without any luck.
Who knows, in the coming weeks I might have it. Lets cross fingers that I don’t!!
…and oh yes add me as a claimant too.
I am 75 years old with health issues resulting in a compromised immune system and the responsibility of caring for a 52 year old developmentally delayed son. This Corona virus out real has terrorized me and paralyzed me to a great extent from going outside my home to grocery shop, take care of business or seek or complete routine medical care. My two adult daughters, both in their fifties, who do not live with me, grocery shop for me but I feel guilty asking them to Expose themselves to the great potential to catch this virus doing errands for me. Yes China needs to pay dearly for causing this worldwide threat due to their egotism in seeking to be a world power.
Please add me to this lawsuit. First SARS, now Coronavirus. It is past time for China to pay for the pain, suffering, and death of Americans that they are responsible for! My life changed overnight because of this pandemic and it will likely be years before I recover from the damage!
I have a compromised immune system, I have a little COPD high blood pressure and was on chemo in the past I feel threatened by this disease
Please add me to this lawsuot, I live in New Mexico. I have chronic bronchitus, and I am a disabled veteran. I feel we all are going to end up with PTSD, from being affected by this virus.
I live in South Florid, I lost my job on the 13th I work at a cruise port, I found out just today that one of my co-workers has been hospitalized tested positive and her husband also tested positive and he’s been put into a medically-induced coma, I have been abiding by all advise staying away from people washing my hands I even waste my keys in my car every time I get in and out every button and everything that I touch including my steering wheel, doors, handles, stereo, air control buttons, seatbelt my purse everything that I bring home gets wiped down, however just in the past couple of days I have been feeling kind of yucky, I’m taking all precautions but I’m afraid for myself, my family and my friends! It’s just awful! And Very Scary!
Michelle Kaulback here again Update: I am now out of work 6 weeks and my job won’t reopen until late June, Cruise Port, I’m about to have a mental nervous breakdown, already had many emotional ones, not a penny of financial help. NO UE, NO PUA, NO STIMULUS, NO PPP NOTHING! I took my last paycheck 6 weeks ago to buy quarantine supplies food, essentials, gas etc, pay what bills I could as I figured I wouldn’t see anything for a month and kept a little to get anything I ran out of or needed. I’ve only been out VERY BRIEFLY 3 times as 1 of my Reps and her husband were both rushed to hospital about a month ago she was released after over a week in and he passed, both had Coronavirus, so I’ve experienced 3 very close hospitalized and have been completely destroyed not being able to physically comfort people I love in the worst time of their life. The phone isn’t the way that should be!!! And it sucks. So I’ve hunkered down! I’m now going into week 7, closed since Mar 13th, savings is completely depleted and AGAIN Florida hasn’t paid a dime of even Fed $. I don’t sleep I’m crying more than I ever have,and I’ve seen some tough rough and tragic times in my life, my nerves are shot, blood pressure, nausea, headaches, insomnia, tight chest, I’ve lost faith in everything I believed in. I know better days have to be coming but it’s getting more difficult to keep my faith and hang on. Please GOD ? Where’s the Lighthouse this storm ?is not letting up I just need the glimmer of light so I can navigate this ship before it sinks!⚓ Stay Safe and Healthy Everyone
Please add me, this is beyond stressing me out. I have Hydrocephalus ( water in the brain) and I can’t go see my neurologist because of the hospital protocols.