In the New York Law Journal story, “Big Law Firms Join Nursing Homes, Hospitals in Fight Over Liability for COVID-19 Deaths”, Professor Nina Kohn notes that the introduction of more high-powered attorneys signals that providers—which are often large, chain entities that own facilities across multiple jurisdictions—might be stepping up efforts to secure appellate victories.
Prolonging—and winning—the battle over where these cases are heard also benefits providers because it increases the expense for plaintiffs’ counsel and potentially discourages other individuals from bringing suits, Kohn said.
“This isn’t just defeating a claim in a particular facility or even in a particular jurisdiction but looking out for the interests of a large organization that may span many different states,” Kohn said. “If you can take care of a bunch of states in one fell swoop, that’s efficient. … As plaintiffs’ attorneys are trying to figure out what is viable under COVID and what is not, a few key wins at the federal level could have a desired chilling effect from the industry’s point of view.”