The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- West Virginia
- Level
- State
- Authority
- W. Va. Code §§ 55-19-1 to 55-19-9 (S.B. 277, ch. 1, Acts 2021 Reg. Sess.)
- Issued
- 2021-03-19 Mar. 19, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-03-11 (from passage); § 55-19-9(a): 'effective retroactively from January 1, 2020, and applies to any cause of action accruing on or after that date' (read as 2021-03-11)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Mar. 11, 2021 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Standing dutyOperating condition
- Addressees
- persons generally; businesses; 'essential business[es]'; health care facilities and providers; first responders; volunteers; institutions of higher education; employers (§ 55-19-6 workers' compensation exclusivity)
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: West Virginia DUT-WV
Operative words
(4)... all nonessential businesses were directed to cease all activities except for minimum basic operations in the state.... (A) Implementing policies and procedures designed to prevent or minimize the spread of COVID-19;... (I) Actions taken in response to federal, state, or local orders, recommendations, or guidelines lawfully set forth in response to COVID-19.
Penalty
None (immunity statute); § 55-19-7 withdraws the immunity for 'intentional conduct with actual malice'; § 55-19-6 makes workers' compensation 'the sole and exclusive remedy' for an employee's COVID-19 injury, disease or death, foreclosing deliberate-intention actions under § 23-4-2
What it required
Recorded exactly: the Act imposes no compliance condition on the immunity in § 55-19-4 ('there is no claim against any person, essential business, business, entity... for loss, damage, physical injury, or death arising from COVID-19'), which yields only to 'intentional conduct with actual malice' (§ 55-19-7); it defines the protected conduct as implementing infection-control 'policies and procedures,' 'Closing or partially closing to prevent or minimize the spread of COVID-19' and 'Actions taken in response to federal, state, or local orders, recommendations, or guidelines' (§ 55-19-3(1)(A), (E), (I)); it defines 'Public health guidance' as written COVID-19 guidance of the CDC, OSHA, the Office of the Governor, the West Virginia Department of Health 'or any other state, federal, county, or local government agency' (§ 55-19-3(14)); it defines 'Essential business' by reference to EO 9-20 and the DHS critical-infrastructure sectors (§ 55-19-3(5)); and it finds that nonessential businesses 'were directed to cease all activities,' that residents 'were directed to stay at home,' and that providers 'were prohibited by Executive Order No. 16-20 from engaging in elective medical procedures' (§ 55-19-2(a)(4)-(6)).
Retrieval noteBill history read on the Legislature's site: passed Mar. 11, 2021; to the Governor Mar. 15, 2021; approved Mar. 19, 2021; ch. 1, Acts Reg. Sess. 2021. Unlike Alaska's H.B. 76 or Texas's S.B. 6, the West Virginia Act does not make compliance with health standards a condition of immunity; orders, recommendations, or guidelines,' and its finding that businesses 'were directed.' The definition of 'Public health guidance' (§ 55-19-3(14)) is enacted but not used operatively in the article as codified. Section 55-19-2(a)(9) records the Legislature's finding that 'West Virginia is reopening its businesses, including restaurants, retail stores, office buildings, fitness centers, hotels, hair and nail salons, and barber shops, as well as religious institutions.'.