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HR 99
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Protecting Businesses From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025

To require a particular jury instruction in Federal civil actions that include a claim for damages based on negligence arising from the transmission of COVID19.

Introduced Jan 3, 2025

Latest action (Jan 3, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Referred to
Judiciary Committee
Policy area
Law
Issues
Economy & Taxes
Legislative subjects (6)
Business ethicsCardiovascular and respiratory healthCivil actions and liabilityEmergency medical services and trauma careEvidence and witnessesInfectious and parasitic diseases

Summary
  • Requires courts to provide specific jury instructions in federal COVID-19 negligence lawsuits regarding the reasonable person standard for liability.
  • Instructs juries that opening a business, by itself, is legally considered reasonable conduct and cannot be the basis for a negligence finding.
  • Prohibits juries from finding negligence based solely on a business operating or holding itself open to the public during the pandemic.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Actions (2)
  1. Jan 3, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
  2. Jan 3, 2025 Introduced in House

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

  • HR 1654 — CUTS Act (shares 5 subjects)
  • S 1071 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 5371 — Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • S 2882 — Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 5450 — Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 5304 — Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 1968 — Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 191 — Inflation Reduction Act of 2025 (shares 4 subjects)

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 3, 2025

Mr. Biggs of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To require a particular jury instruction in Federal civil actions that include a claim for damages based on negligence arising from the transmission of COVID19.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Protecting Businesses From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. JURY INSTRUCTION IN FEDERAL CIVIL ACTIONS THAT INCLUDE A CLAIM ALLEGING NEGLIGENCE ARISING FROM THE TRANSMISSION OF COVID-19.

In a Federal civil action that includes a claim alleging negligence arising from the transmission of COVID-19 and a request for damages, the court shall instruct a jury that—

(1) the liability standard is the reasonable person standard,

(2) a person is negligent if the person either does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation, or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do, in the same situation,

(3) the act of opening a business, by itself, shall be considered to be reasonable as a matter of law, and

(4) the negligence may not be found solely on the basis of holding oneself open for business. <all>

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