Nursing Home Covid-19 Death Claims Sent Back to State Court

A case against a California nursing home over a resident’s alleged coronavirus death can proceed in state court despite the facility’s bid to move it to federal court, a U.S. district judge ruled.

The decision highlights the extent to which a federal public readiness law prevents state-law, pandemic-related negligence claims. At least a half dozen federal circuits are hearing similar cases.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act doesn’t completely preempt the plaintiffs’ claims because they don’t allege the death was “causally connected” to the use of any covered countermeasure, Judge John F. Walter of the U.S. District Court for ...