A group of California small businesses have filed a class action lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for at least $8 trillion.

The plaintiffs say that China engaged in a cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic, which contributed to the subsequent spread of the virus across the world, including the United States. 

The coronavirus started in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China around Nov. 17, 2019 and the origins point to the Human Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, the plaintiffs maintain.

The defendants should have known that COVID-19 was a “new” dangerous and deadly virus because many Chinese citizens who contracted the virus were getting sick and some citizens were dying, the China class action lawsuit avers.

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The plaintiffs say that when the PRC received this disturbing information, they should have reported it to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the international community, which includes the United States.

However, instead of disclosing information about the new virus, China reportedly engaged in a campaign of intimidating and arresting anyone who tried to let the public know about the “new” coronavirus.

Because the PRC did not disclose any information about the coronavirus, the international community did not know about the severity and the dangers of the virus, the plaintiffs allege.

In addition, the coronavirus class action lawsuit notes that the misconduct of the defendants have caused monetary damages that exceed hundreds of billions of dollars, and that these damages will continue to increase because small businesses have been ordered to close until the virus can be contained.

The plaintiffs contend that more than 1 million businesses have been forced to close because of the coronavirus outbreak and these numbers are bound to increase as governments across the United States are increasingly telling businesses to suspend operations.

“The PRC and the other Defendants failed to timely report the outbreak, underreported the severity of the virus, underreported the deaths caused by COVID-19, and failed to contain the outbreak despite knowing the seriousness of the situation,” according to the coronavirus class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say that on Dec. 27, 2019, Dr. Zhang Jixian “sounded the alarm” about a “new” virus that had already affected 180 patients at his hospital. The PRC allegedly suppressed this information from getting out to the public.

In addition, on Dec. 31, 2019, one and a half months after the first reported case, China finally alerted the WHO about a type of pneumonia with an unknown cause that was affecting the health of the people of Wuhan, the plaintiffs maintain.

On that same date, the Chinese internet authorities started to censor all mentions of the “new” virus on social media, the plaintiffs say. Also on that date, the Wuhan seafood market where the coronavirus first broke out, was closed.

“Under the guise of ‘disinfecting’ the area, governmental authorities intentionally failed to have doctors inspect the area and failed to swab individual animal cages or to draw blood from the workers in order to determine the ‘real’ source of the virus,” the China class action lawsuit claims.

On Jan. 1, 2020, eight Chinese doctors who had disclosed the “new” virus were detained and questioned by the police who condemned them for making false statements on the internet about the “new” virus, the plaintiffs allege.

Then on Jan. 3,  the PRC issued a gag order on any matters regarding the “new” virus and ordered samples from affected people to be moved to designated facilities or destroyed, the plaintiffs say.

In addition, medical institutions were not allowed to publish anything about the then unknown disease.

On Jan. 9, China finally announced the first official death of a coronavirus patient and that 59 additional citizens had been infected in Wuhan, the plaintiffs contend. The next day, the defendants told Chinese state television that the “pneumonia” was under control and said that the virus was a “mild infection.”

The plaintiffs maintain that China’s conduct has created a worldwide pandemic causing panic, illnesses, death, and a global recession which is worse than the Great Depression. The defendants’ conduct has been “egregious” and “contrary to the precepts of humanity,” the small business plaintiffs argue.

Prospective Class Members include: “All small businesses in the United States, including the State of California, which have sustained, among other things, financial/monetary damages and/or losses related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Hoang Tu of The Tu Firm.

The China Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuit is Cardiff Prestige Property Inc., et al. v. People’s Republic of China, et al., Case No. 8:20-cv-00683, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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