One of the bills passed in the Tennessee Special Session deals with Covid-19 lawsuits.
We look at what it will do.
State lawmakers have passed governor lee's tennessee recovery and safe harbor act, during a special session this week.
News 12's joeli poole explains how this soon-to-be law will impact local businesses, and schools, in our top local story.
A new bill is headed to the governor's desk for final approval.
It's the tennessee recovery & safe harbor act and it aims to provide covid-19 liability protection to businesses,healt h care providers, nonprofit organizations and schools.
Senator todd gardenhire "the last thing i want to do is catch this thing, but what is my recourse?
Obviously the recourse for everybody to do is to hire a lawyer and sue.
That's perfectly legitimate but in order to be able to prove that you got it from somebody, you have to be able to prove it was negligence and/or willful misconduct."
Groups like the tennessee citizen action and aarp of tennessee questioned the bill's legality.
The original version of the bill was written to be retroactive, meaning businesses could not be sued for anything as early as march - when the pandemic began.
Gardenhire "they put the start date on this when the governor called the special session which was august 3rd.
That's what the start date does, so it has some retroactive part to it but it's not gonna go all the way back to march."
Joeli poole "the bill will take effect immediately once it is signed into law by the governor, meaning covid- 19-related lawsuits filed after the bill's signing will be blocked- unless there is clear and convincing evidence of wrongdoing."
Governor bill lee took to social media to celebrate not only the bill's passing but also the success of the special session.
As it is currently written, the bill will have a sunset provision, or expiration date, of july 1st 2022- which can be extended if necessary.
In hamilton county, joeli poole, news 12 now.
Two hamilton county schools had to shut down on-campus
Outrage over the killing of George Floyd and incidents like it have shone a spotlight on the controversial legal doctrine called..
Bill Cosby has filed for a new appeal in Pennsylvania Supreme Court, insisting that his trial was unfair.
