As businesses reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, tort reformers are mobilizing to enact federal and state protections against an anticipated plethora of personal injury lawsuits, but plaintiffs attorneys vow on suing companies that negligently expose customers and employees.

The battle, so far, is playing out in Washington, D.C., where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the next COVID-19 stimulus package would include liability protections, a move fiercely opposed by Democrats. More than 100 plaintiffs organizations, including the American Association for Justice, said in an April 29 letter to Congress that they “strongly oppose” legislation that would give “nationwide immunity for businesses that operate in an unreasonably unsafe manner, causing returning workers and consumers to risk COVID-19 infection.”