As we are all quickly discovering, regular life continues to happen during the COVID-19 crisis. Babies are born, people are hospitalized for heart attacks and non-COVID-19 related illnesses, and various industries are figuring out how to return to work. In addition, individual’s rights are being violated and consumers are suffering due to product flaws and unsafe conditions. The legal community is hard at work on a variety of cases in hopes of achieving aa class action lawsuit settlement. There are a number of active class action cases across the country.
Among those affected financially by the crisis are college students, especially those who reside on campus. An anonymous student at the University of Southern California is seeking a class action lawsuit settlement for all students enrolled in the Spring 2020 semester. The lawsuit seeks to reclaim tuition, room and board, in addition to other expenses. The student claims that the academic experience is extremely compromised without the in-person education. In addition, students living in dorms have been shut out and unable to reclaim their possessions. Similar lawsuits were filed on behalf of students at University of Miami and Drexel University in Pennsylvania. The website collegefund2020.com was created to attract more students interested in joining the claim.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Connecticut has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of potentially vulnerable inmates. The lawsuit seeks to release all inmates aged 50 and over, to protect themselves from spreading COVID-19 as well as spreading it through the prisons itself. The suit, filed by an inmate with COVID-19 cataracts symptoms, states that the Department of Correction’s administration is not prepared to handle health complaints of inmates of this nature. The state of Connecticut filed a motion to dismiss the suit, but Judge Janet Bond Arterton rejected that motion, allowing the suit to proceed.
David v. Vi-Jon Inc. is one of the first class action settlement cases filed against a corporation. The suit claims that Germ-X, a hand sanitizer company, falsely claimed that their product was able to fight COVID-19, which led to consumers purchasing the product.
There have been multiple lawsuits filed against the videoconferencing website Zoom. Cullen v. Zoom Video Communications Inc. claims that the personal information of their users was not properly protected. Ohlweiler v. Zoom Video Communications Inc. is another class action claim regarding the sale of user’s private information without their permission or knowledge.
The judgment of these cases and whether they will lead to a class action lawsuit settlement for the plaintiffs is yet to be determined. Certainly there will be more class action suits stemming from the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200507006179/en/Hagens-Berman-USC-Student-Files-Class-Action-Lawsuit
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2020/05/05/will-lawsuits-help-college-students-get-coronavirus-refunds/#39527c1271c4
https://www.law.com/ctlawtribune/2020/05/07/federal-judge-allows-connecticut-prison-class-action-tied-to-covid-19-to-continue/?slreturn=20200408131259
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/protecting-your-business-covid-19-class-action-lawsuits
https://www.law360.com/articles/1258716/zoom-hit-with-proposed-class-action-over-privacy-concerns
https://consumer.jenner.com/2020/04/zoom-video-communication-meets-resistance-from-government-regulators-and-plaintiffs-lawyers-as-it-zo.html
