In the Press
August 3, 2023

California Supreme Court Review: July 2023 (Daily Journal)

As COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits are reportedly seeing an uptick this summer for the first time in 2023, California employers will be particularly interested in the California Supreme Court's recent decision, Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc., which examined two questions of California law certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: (1) whether the California Workers' Compensation Act ("WCA") bars a negligence claim against an employer brought by the spouse of an employee which contracted COVID-19 in the workplace and then infected his/her spouse, and (2) whether the employer owes a duty of care under California law to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to employees' household members. Andrew Ong, Ishika Desai, and Jessica Huang explain more in the Daily Journal.