A federal judge in California has dismissed the claims of a construction worker’s wife who said she contracted COVID-19 after her husband was exposed to the virus at work, according to www.constructiondive.com.
Corby Kuciemba filed a lawsuit against her husband’s employer, Victory Woodworks, alleging the company knew another employee had tested positive for COVID-19 but did not require the worker to quarantine and instead assigned him or her to work with Kuciemba’s husband on a San Francisco job site.
Kuciemba sought damages exceeding $75,000 for medical expenses for at least one hospital stay, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress.
U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney denied Kuciemba's claims, ruling the allegation she contracted COVID-19 through direct contact with her husband was barred by California workers’ compensation law; the claim that she was exposed “indirectly through fomites such as [her husband’s] clothing” was not plausible; and that Victory Woodworks’ “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.”
Barring a successful appeal, the decision could be used as an example for other courts handling similar lawsuits or put in the position of deciding liability in states with workers’ compensation laws such as those in California, according to an analysis of the case by attorneys Eric Hobbs and J. Davis Jenkins of the law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart.
