This bill tells federal courts to give juries a clear instruction in lawsuits about catching COVID-19 due to someone’s carelessness. Juries must use the “reasonable person” standard and be told that simply opening a business is, by itself, considered reasonable and cannot be the only reason to find someone negligent. In short, a business can’t be found negligent just because it stayed open; there must be something else that a reasonably careful person would have done differently .

Key points

• Who is affected: People suing for COVID-related harm, businesses facing these lawsuits, and federal juries and judges.
• What changes: Judges must tell juries to apply the reasonable person test and that being open for business alone isn’t negligence .
• Where it applies: Federal civil cases about COVID-19 transmission and negligence.