Alberta Lawyers Prepare for Post-Pandemic Lawsuits

A group of Alberta lawyers say that a plethora of post-pandemic lawsuits should be expected as COVID-19 restrictions wind down in the coming months.

The Edmonton Journal reports that civil courts, which have limited activities in the face of the coronavirus, should expect an uptick in class action lawsuits, contractual issues, insolvencies, and defamation actions related to COVID-19 restrictions in the province. Unfortunately, Alberta’s civil courts already faced deep backlogs, reports the Journal, mainly due to lack of funding.

In an effort to contain the coronavirus, civil courts were limited to emergency and urgent cases. Alberta lawyers say that they should now brace for post-pandemic lawsuits, in addition to the regular workload.

“This current closure is going to create a problem exponentially worse than we had before the pandemic in terms of delay, because we’ve got the usual caseload, and then what we’ve got spilling out of the pandemic,” said one Alberta lawyer, according to the Edmonton Journal report.

Other lawyers told reporters that the wave of post-pandemic lawsuits has only just begun. Whenever governments have to make quick decisions without having time to think of how those decisions will affect all groups in society, the potential for legal action increases. After the SARs outbreak in the 2000s, notes the Journal’s report, a group of nurses filed a lawsuit after being infected during a second wave of the virus.

According to the Edmonton Journal, Alberta courts should expect post-pandemic lawsuits concerning essential businesses, services, and health care providers. Post-pandemic lawsuits will likely target nursing homes and long-term care facilities – hotbeds of coronavirus transmission. Many have already been filed. 

In addition, lawyers reportedly anticipate that prisoners and their advocates may initiate post-pandemic legal action after COVID-19 outbreaks were recorded in many facilities.

“It just seems predictable that people who got sick in (those environments) will try to hold probably the company to account, but probably the government, too,” a lawyer told Edmonton Journal reporters.

In tandem with the coronavirus outbreak, Alberta experienced a precarious drop in oil prices. Lawyers in the commercial sector reportedly anticipate that insolvencies and contract disputes related to the crash will drive litigation in civil courts when they fully reopen.

Additionally, lawyers say they expect a rarely used legal concept related to defamation may become a part of post-pandemic lawsuits. Specifically, those who say they were publicly shamed for not following social distancing requirements or recommendations may be able to argue that they were harmed by their actions being taken out of context or attributed to distressing and possibly untrue consequences, such as the sickness or death of others.

Several Alberta lawyers expressed concern that the backlog faced by the civil courts will lead to a loss of faith in the system, notes the article, especially if there is an additional wave of post-pandemic lawsuits. However, the pandemic has forced modernization of many workforces, who found themselves rapidly becoming the remote workplace that experts have anticipated and recommended for years. This modernization includes the court system, and lawyers say that these lessons learned can help the civil courts efficiently manage the mountain of litigation anticipated in a post-pandemic world.

Coronavirus Restrictions in Alberta

According to the most recent information issued by the province, Alberta has 5,893 confirmed coronavirus cases and the province has experienced 106 deaths. The province issued a series of orders in mid-March, as the severity of the coronavirus pandemic became clear to health experts. Alberta has issues orders related to schools and daycares, gatherings and non-essential services, isolation requirements, visitor restrictions for health facilities, health care facility requirements, and residential addiction treatment service facilities.

The province currently requires the following restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus:

• Mandatory isolation requirements for those experiencing symptoms or who have been in contact with someone with COVID-19
• Restrictions on gatherings over 15 people and mandated physical distancing for those under 15 people
• Restrictions on businesses, including the closure of nonessential businesses
• Travellers and airline passengers returning to the province must isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms

In addition, the province encourages residents to help stop the spread of the virus by following travel guidelines, practicing physical distancing, good hygiene, monitoring for symptoms, and self-isolating for 10 days if any symptoms occur. In addition, the province guides residents to conserve medical masks for health care workers and those directly caring for those with COVID-19. Non-medical masks are recommended only in addition to other hygiene and distancing recommendations.

Alberta has declared a public health emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but has issued guidance to businesses to help prepare policies and procedures in order to open again.

Are you considering a post-pandemic lawsuit or other legal action related to the coronavirus or its related restrictions? Tell us your experience in the comment section below!

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