Five Floridian plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Chinese governmentโs 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 governmentโs 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 โ 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 Peopleโs Republic of China, the National Health Commission of the Peopleโs Republic of China, Ministry of Emergency Management of the Peopleโs Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Peopleโs Republic of China, the Peopleโs Government of Hubei Province, and the Peopleโs 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.ย
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.ย
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.ย
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 Peopleโs 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 Chinaโs only โlevel 4โ microbiology lab, dealing with โthe deadliest of viruses.โ
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 โfrom their own self interestโ and to โprotect their place as a super-power.โ
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.ย
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.ย
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. Peopleโs 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
Iโm in Chapter 13 BK and have been hanging in there for 4.5 yrs but thanks to the Wuhan virus related shortages and empty grocery shelves, I have had to spend three times my normal food budget. (For instance, the only pasta I could find cost $3 when normally I only spend $1.) It took two days to find a store with a loaf of bread. I donโt have credit cards so I can only get food when I have money in the bank. Iโm 61. I worry about what this pandemic is doing to the nationโs economy. This past week Iโve been eating bologna sandwiches and crackers with some peanut butter. Itโs been tough.
Our family was already struggling to get by before this media and politically driven hysteria due to Chinaโs negligence. We depend on my husbands income as a subcontractor in the residential building business which is now null and void due to the panic over the stock market and the shutdown of industries that are essential to construction. Customers have canceled projects due to financial fears, material suppliers have shut down because people arenโt showing up to work and the businesses canโt get the product to the stores. Our community has been placed on limited movement and 75% of the businesses are shut down or on limited hours. People have been panic buying so that grocery stores are poorly stocked and in some cases we have seen an increase in pricing. We fall into that category of citizen that will not qualify for SBA loans or subsidies as we are self employed. Also as a married older couple over 50 we donโt qualify for welfare or any other social programs and we canโt afford medical insurance to seek medical care if we needed it. We have enough in savings to survive at the utmost 2 months before we start losing everything that we have worked for starting with good credit ratings, our car, our home and possibly our health. Why should we pay the price because of the negligence of a foreign country that is now profiting off of the stock market sell off that they are the cause of?
Add me to this. I live on disability and have a very weak immune system
Yep canโt afford to live canโt work no landlord laws in my state of Arkansas so evictions still may take place. Businesses strained reducing quality of resources. All bad!!
Iโm high risk auto immune low income disabled person whom canโt see family
I am very upset! First, I am considered high risk because of my immune system. Second, Iโm a low income disabled person who now has to travel around town just to find freaking toilet paper. We have no one to depend on so its up to us getting out and do this. Just think you never knew you could die from going to get toilet paper or milk. My sons canโt even come see me. Itโs bad enough when youโre body turns against you.
Iโm in for the fight and upset because the Chinese government is all wrong all together! This disaster is due to an evil wreck-less organization called the Chinese Communist Party! It affected everyone, myself and my friends and family and country and to see the world suffer from their carelessness, doing huge criminal acts hurts! So many loved ones lost! Sad to see deaths that could have been prevented and great economic losses. Was the SARS outbreak not a hard enough lesson to learn from! Yet they closed their eyes reselling the same wild animals thatโs caused The SARS outbreak! Money and corruption! Now all they care about is saving their reputation, image and pockets!
They are known to be big liars! They are lying to the teeth to shift the blame and look like heroes! Iโm not against the Chinese people, they are good people like us struggling and have loving families and suffered so much being under this criminal government! During and before the outbreak they can be treated like slaves, animals especially by the government authorities during the lockdowns and they are victims to this as well angry at the government response at all that has transpired!
We cannot hate the Chinese people or generalize and even think they all eat bats and snakes! The true people responsible is the upper government!
If only you see how the people in China were treated badly like animals by the authorities and families destroyed.
CCP learned nothing after SARS and they are criminals in reality! They violate human rights, animal rights! the list goes on!
Even imprisoning 1.8 million and more
Uyghurs and torture and murders, missing, forced into their regime mentality, killing and selling the organs since 1998 of prisoners!
They are committing one of the greatest criminal human rights violations since Hitler! Does that say enough who we are dealing with!
Do your research and you will find all the proof that they are responsible for the corona virus disaster! And you will find other dark issues that they lie, deny, bury, make another lie, make more excuses! Their president is a criminal! The people of China deserve better and the world deserves better!
Let this government suffer and I pray they fall and replaced with good souls who know how to respect their country, people, animals, without so much control and surveillance and in prison one who wishes to speak freely! Have this freedom of speech not been an issue there, this virus would have been stopped in Wuhan and many lives would have been spared! I also hope after this they ban selling wild animals, even eating dogs and cats that can carry rabies and listen to the W.H.O for once! I truly hope we unite and learn from our mistakes and say No to such regimes and please remember that their are good people out there and they are Asians who see things your way and are victims and angry a d hurt as you are. Everyone suffered and I hope this regime gets sued and this government is finally replaced! Ami!
I am a mom of an 8 year old. I am 50. I am a driver but self employed and all my appointments cancelled. I have had 1 ride in over a week. We support my elderly parents who I am worried will get sick. I have risk factors such as my age and my husband had a heart attack 2 years ago and 2 stints. He is still having to work and is in contact with all kinds of people. He comes home to us. We donโt have any idea how long this will last. He is the bread winner but me having no income will hurt us. IF he gets sick or cant work we will be in a heap of hay. My 8 year old son has missed 2 weeks of school (1 was Spring Break). Next week they will start with a 3 1/2 day or I can homeschool him. He is in 2nd grade. How disruptive is all this to his little life. The stress is unmentionable. The income loss is potentially devastating but at the least will deplete our savings if it goes on more than 2 months. My uncle is also in transportation and hasnโt been paid and he is unsure what will happen. He is driving from FL to come live with me until he can get back on his feet. If China could have done something about this virus and it is killing people and they could of prevented some or most of itโฆheck even if it was only 1 person there is no punishment to replace a human lifeโฆthey need to pay.
Yup Add me
I own and run a small business and the Corona virus has hurt business. I also am at high risk because of my low immune system
Please add me