Profiting from the Covid-19 Pandemic: Pain-and-Suffering Lawsuits and Predatory Price-Gauging

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes)  and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19.

Two developments related to the virus pandemic reported in today’s Wall Street Journal are likely to impact courts and the justice system. Like almost everything about Covid-19, how much of an impact is anyone’s guess.

First, under the heading “Pain and Suffering for Profit,” the  Journal’s opinion page describes  two lawsuits filed by a Florida law firm, Chalik and Chalik Law, against the Princess Cruise line for gross negligence in causing “emotional stress” to passengers recently quarantined on a cruise ship off the coast of California. “We believe the cruise lines have a pattern of putting profits over their passengers,” Attorney Jason Chalik is quoted saying. He says that more lawsuits may be coming, as hotels and restaurants are also sued under the “gross negligence” standard used in the two Florida lawsuits against the cruise ship line.

The second development is a surge in predatory price-gauging driven by the virus panic. As reported by the Wall Street Journal’s Alexander Berzon and Daniela Hernandez, a U.S. PIRG Education Fund study found that a case of 320 disinfectant wipes manufacture by Lysol that typically sold for $13.57 on Amazon rose to $220 by March 3. Amazon is said to be working with several state attorneys to combat price-gauging as well as other related abuse such as the sale of dangerous, banned, counterfeit, and deceptively labelled coronavirus-related products such as face masks and hand-sanitizers.  At least 34 states have price gouging laws; and several impose criminal charges on top of civil liability when a business is found guilty of price gouging. California anti-gauging law, for example, prohibits sales of consumer goods and services at a price of more than 10% above the price charged for those goods and services immediately prior to a federal, state, or local declared emergency. Each violation carries a penalty of $2500 plus injunction and/or restitution, criminal penalties also are available.

In his 2009 book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? the political philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that price-gouging in a natural disaster offends a just society, one that maximizes welfare, respects freedom, and promotes virtue among its citizens.

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