Ninth Circuit Moves Covid-19 Injury Lawsuits to State Courts

Health-care facilities in California, Nevada, and other western states will be facing Covid-19 injury and death suits in state courts, thanks to a series of orders issued by the Ninth Circuit Wednesday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected facilities’ attempts to keep about two dozen cases against them in federal courts, saying that neither the federal officer removal statute nor the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act gave federal courts the ability to hear them.

Nursing homes and skilled care facilities became ground zero for Covid-19 during the early days of the pandemic. Residents, or their ...