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Spouse Can’t Sue for Getting COVID-19 Through Partner’s Work, California Judge Rules
(Photo Credit: toa55/DepositPhotos.com)

A wife cannot sue her husband’s company for getting her sick with COVID-19, a California judge has ruled.

In an order filed Monday in a California federal court, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney dismissed the claims brought by Corby and Robert Kuciemba against Robert’s company, Victory Woodworks Inc.

In her original lawsuit filed October last year, Corby Kuciemba alleges her husband got COVID-19 while working at the millworking company, and then brought it home and infected her while he was asymptomatic, Law 360 reported.

The pair were suing under California workers’ compensation laws, and alleged that it was Victory Woodwork’s duty to keep her from being harmed. 

However, the judge ruled that any workplace duty did not extend to her.

“Such claims are subject to dismissal for the reason that defendant’s duty to provide a safe workplace to its employees does not extend to nonemployees who, like Corby Kuciemba, contract a viral infection away from those premises.”

Kuciemba’s claims asked too much of companies, Victory argued in a brief filed earlier this year, according to Law 360. It said that if it was found liable for her infection, that would require the company to make sure no one in the public could possibly be infected by any of its workers.

It also argued that Corby Kuciemba never visited its job site, and so her infection was caused by her contact with her husband, not any contact with Victory assets.

The judge agreed that the claims could not stand based on the transmission of the virus solely through Corby Kuciemba’s husband.

“To the extent plaintiffs’ claims are based on allegations that Corby Kuciemba contracted COVID-19 ‘through direct contact with’ Robert Kuciemba, such claims are barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of California’s workers’ compensation statutes and, thus, are subject to dismissal,” she said.

The Kuciembas also argued that Robert’s work clothes were a vehicle for the virus, however the judge shot this argument down too, for “failure to plead a plausible claim.”

This is the latest in a host of lawsuits trying to hold companies and officials responsible for sickness, loss of wages and death due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Last month, a New Jersey man filed a $1 trillion class action lawsuit accusing former President Donald Trump of failing to protect Americans from excess deaths due to the COVID-19 epidemic 

And last June, a group of Amazon workers and their families filed a lawsuit against the internet retail giant, saying that the company put profits ahead of people and didn’t take adequate measures to ensure the safety of workers at its New York JFK8 plant during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit forced the company to enhance its safety protocols.

Do you think workplaces should be held legally responsible for the health of family members sickened by their employees? Let us know in the comments! 

The Kuciembas are represented by Martin Zurada of Venardi Zurada LLP.

The Victory Woodworks Spouse COVID-19 Lawsuit is Corby Kuciemba et al. v. Victory Woodworks Inc., Case No. 3:20-cv-09355, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.


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