Covid Spousal Death Case Threatens Workers’ Compensation Defense

Matilde Ek’s claim that her husband died after he contracted Covid-19 she got from working on a See’s Candies factory assembly line will move forward, signaling that employers may have to defend such wrongful death cases despite state workers’ compensation shields.

A California appellate court in Los Angeles recently rejected a request from See’s Candies, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., to throw out the case. The company failed to convince the court that Arturo Ek’s death wouldn’t have occurred without Matilde Ek’s job exposure and thus was tied to an injury that should fall under California’s ...