NJ Officials Immune From Liability in Nursing Home Covid Case

New Jersey officials aren’t liable for adopting policies that allegedly put nursing home residents in danger of contracting and dying from Covid-19, a federal appeals court said Friday.

The officials, including Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and health department commissioner Judith Persichilli, had qualified immunity from a lawsuit for damages because the residents’ families didn’t show the state actors violated a constitutional or statutory right that was clearly established when they issued the policies in spring 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said.

The doctrine gives “government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments ...