The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina
- Level
- State
- Authority
- N.C. Const. art. II; G.S. ch. 99E (Special Liability Provisions), new Article 8
- Issued
- 2020-07-02 July 2, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-07-02 (applies to claims arising on or after that date) (read as 2020-07-02)
- End
- claims arising no later than 180 days after the expiration or rescission of Executive Order No. 116 (terminated Aug. 15, 2022, Ex. NC-063) (read as 2022-08-15)
- In force
- July 2, 2020 to Aug. 15, 2022
- Quarters
- 2020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding dutyOperating condition
- Addressees
- persons generally, defined to include every corporation, partnership, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, association and governmental entity (G.S. 99E-70(2)); the notice duty applies to premises used in business, not to an individual's private premises
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: North Carolina DUT-NC
Operative words
(b) Every person shall provide, with respect to any premises owned by the person or under the person's possession, custody, or control, reasonable notice of actions taken by the person for the purpose of reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to individuals present on the premises.
Penalty
None criminal; the sanction is the standard of civil liability: conduct amounting to gross negligence, willful or wanton conduct or intentional wrongdoing remains actionable, and the notice duty of subsec. (b) is enforceable only through the same standard
What it required
Every person in possession, custody or control of business premises must give reasonable notice of the actions it has taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission to persons on the premises (subsec. (b)), and in return no person is liable for an act or omission alleged to have resulted in the contraction of COVID-19, 'including any claim based on violation of subsection (b)', unless the act or omission 'amount[s] to gross negligence, willful or wanton conduct, or intentional wrongdoing' (subsec. (a)); workers' compensation claims are excluded (subsec. (c)) and the essential-business immunity of S.L. 2020-3 is preserved (sec. 2).
Retrieval noteStated exactly: the North Carolina shield does not, in terms, condition immunity on compliance with governmental health guidance (as Texas S.B. 6 or Alabama Act 2021-4 do); it (i) presupposes that every occupier of business premises has taken 'actions... for the purpose of reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19' and commands public notice of them, and (ii) leaves gross negligence actionable, a standard measured against the governmental control measures and orders then in force. The earlier essential-business immunity (S.L. 2020-3 sec. 4.14, G.S. 66-460, from Mar. 27, 2020) is in the library as Ex. NC-034.