The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- District of Columbia
- Level
- State
- Authority
- D.C. Home Rule Act sec. 412(a), D.C. Code sec. 1-204.12(a); amending sec. 5a(d) of the District of Columbia Public Emergency Act of 1980, D.C. Code sec. 7-2304.01(d)
- Issued
- 2020-04-10 Apr. 10, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-04-10
- End
- 90 days by its terms; the (3A) exemption was carried forward in the Coronavirus Support acts amending sec. 7-2304.01 (D.C. Acts 23-326, 23-328, 23-405, 24-30, 24-96; D.C. Laws 23-130, 24-9), as the code page's temporary-legislation notes record (Ex. DUT-DC-002) (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Apr. 10, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Operating conditionOther
- Addressees
- persons generally; employers and organizations acting to implement the response plan and the communicable-disease law; District employees and contractors
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: District of Columbia DUT-DC
Operative words
Exempt any person... from civil liability for damages for actions taken while acting within the scope of their employment or organization's purpose... to implement the provisions of the District of Columbia response plan and of [D.C. Official Code sec. 7-131 et seq.], except in instances of gross negligence, and solely for actions taken during the public health emergency
Penalty
None (a conditional exemption from civil damages); outside its terms the ordinary law of negligence applies, with the Mayor's Orders and DC Health's compulsory guidance as the governing standards
What it required
Authorizes the public health emergency order to exempt 'any person', District employees and District contractors from civil liability only for actions taken within the scope of their work 'to implement the provisions of the District of Columbia response plan and of' the Communicable and Preventable Diseases Act, excluding gross negligence and limited to the public health emergency: the exemption is earned by implementing the District's controls, and a business that ignored them stood outside it.
Retrieval noteThe District enacted no general COVID-19 liability shield for businesses of the Texas SB 6 or Georgia SB 359 kind; this paragraph and the permanent sec. 7-2304.01(d)(3) (health care providers; Ex. DUT-DC-002) are the whole of the District's liability treatment. The provision is drafted as a term the Mayor's public health emergency order 'may include'. The text was read on the Council's codified act page; the approval date of Apr. 10, 2020 is verified_secondary.