Employers, already staring down billions of dollars in pandemic lawsuits from their own employees, now also have to worry about the family members those employees later infected when they returned from work, said Reuters.

Insurance companies have been fighting hard to avoid having to pay customers for pandemic losses, usually via the physical loss or damage argument that the defendants in this case advanced. Behind their efforts is a concern that covering pandemic losses for businesses could threaten the insurance companies' ability to remain solvent, as the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association estimates that it would cost the industry between $255 billion to $431 billion a month to compensate businesses for income lost and expenses owed due to virus-led shutdowns. In general, courts have sided with insurers regarding pandemic payments, but not always.

Concern over more litigitation is why Republicans have made strict liability shields for employers a must-have for their own pandemic plans, but with negotiations over the next round of stimulus having broken down, it is unlikely that such protections will be a reality anytime soon.

Reuters noted that the rise of 'take home' lawsuits--that is, suits over a workplace exposing an employee to COVID-19 who then takes it home and infects people with whom they are living--adds a new wrinkle to the situation: while many employees have signed agreements pledging they wouldn't sue, their relatives and roommates made no such pledge and so can sue more easily. What's more, there's precedent for such cases, as similar lawsuits have been fought and won on things like asbestos exposure.

Reuters said that, worst case scenario, lawsuits could cost businesses $21 billion if the number of Americans fatalities reaches 300,000.