The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Alabama
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Legislative act; § 7 directs construction 'in pari materia with the Emergency Management Act and with any emergency order or proclamation of the Governor relating to Coronavirus and immunity from civil lawsuits'
- Issued
- 2021-02-12 Feb. 12, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-02-12 ('immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor,' § 13); retroactive to causes of action filed on or after March 13, 2020 (§ 11) (read as 2021-02-12)
- End
- December 31, 2021, or one year after the declared Coronavirus emergency expires, whichever is later; acts or omissions during its operation governed 'in perpetuity' (§ 12) (read as 2021-12-31)
- In force
- Feb. 12, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding dutyOperating condition
- Addressees
- employers; owners or persons in control of premises; specified businesses (every 'business entity,' § 2(a)(2)); health care providers; churches; educational, governmental and cultural entities
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: Alabama DUT-AL
Operative words
a covered entity shall not be liable for negligence, premises liability, or for any non-wanton, non-willful, or non-intentional civil cause of action to which this section applies, unless the claimant shows by clear and convincing evidence that the covered entity did not reasonably attempt to comply with the then applicable public health guidance.
Penalty
loss of the statutory immunity: exposure to negligence and premises-liability suits under the ordinary standard of care, with the health-order protocols as the measure of that care
What it required
A covered entity (every business entity, health care provider, educational entity, church, governmental entity and cultural institution and their officers, employees and agents, § 2(a)(5)) keeps its protection from negligence and premises-liability claims only if it 'reasonably attempt[ed] to comply with the then applicable public health guidance,' defined as 'Guidance provided in any proclamation, order, or rule of the Governor, the State Health Officer, or the State Board of Health that is applicable to the type of covered entity and to the health emergency claim at issue' (§ 2(a)(1)); the Legislature's finding is that a safe harbor for businesses 'that operate reasonably consistent with applicable public health guidance' would encourage them 'to remain open and reopen' (§ 1(1)).
Retrieval noteThe enrolled act from the Legislature's own server (Wayback capture of April 14, 2021). Section 3 gives the general immunity for 'health emergency claims' absent 'wanton, reckless, willful, or intentional misconduct' proved by clear and convincing evidence; § 4 governs causes of action accrued before February 12, 2021 for which a court holds that neither § 3 nor 'the liability limiting provisions of any gubernatorial emergency order applies,' and § 4(b)(1) is the compliance condition quoted. The Governor's Eighth Supplemental Proclamation of May 8, 2020 (Ex. AL-019, image-only PDF) carried the same structure; contemporaneous summaries by Ogletree Deakins (May 14, 2020), Capell & Howard (May 14, 2020) and EY (May 28, 2020) describe its condition in the same words ('did not reasonably attempt to comply with the then applicable public health guidance'); that description is graded verified_secondary and § 7 of the Act ties the two instruments together. The Supreme Court of Alabama upheld the Act's immunity for health care providers in 2024 (Ex parte the health care petitioners, SC-2023-0601).