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While 3 other families are suing Tyson Foods over COVID-19 deaths among staff at its Iowa plants, the meatpacking giant is covered by the U. S. Supreme Court. USA
Tyson’s lawyers filed the move Friday, asking the nation’s supreme court to hear his case and rule that a March 2020 executive order by then-President Donald Trump exempted the firm from legal liability, Bloomberg Law reported.
Trump’s order directed the secretary of agriculture to take “all appropriate measures” to keep the country’s meat and poultry processing plants open in the face of the spread of COVID-19, though it does not prohibit them from temporarily closing their plants.
In their petition, according to Bloomberg, Tyson’s lawyers wrote that the company had followed “instructions from the federal government to assist in an impending national food shortage. “They added that Tyson executives “will not be as willing to voluntarily help the federal government in the event of a crisis” if the company is sued.
Tyson filed the move in reaction to a lawsuit filed in June 2020 through the families of 3 at the company’s Waterloo plant who died of COVID-19: Sedika Buljic, Reberiano Leno Garcia and Jose Luis Ayala Jr.
More: Unfounded panic over shortages has led to “dangerous conditions” for meatpacking workers, findings
Tyson temporarily shut down the Waterloo plant in the first weeks of the pandemic, after 863 workers tested positive for the disease, according to documents the company later submitted to the U. S. House of Representatives selection subcommittee. U. S. news on the coronavirus crisis.
As of February 2021, according to the company, 1174 Waterloo employees tested positive. At least seven of them died.
Since its introduction, judges have come and gone between the instances of the 3 families between the state and federal courts. Tyson’s lawyers argued that the lawsuits belonged in federal court and that the company was not responsible for Trump’s order.
Also: ‘If we lost Tyson, we lost everything’: Iowa’s meatpacking plant is a COVID-19 and the soul of the city
Meanwhile, more have filed lawsuits, with 3 more filings between June 1 and 13. This brings the total number of coronavirus death lawsuits in Iowa to at least 14.
The new instances accuse Tyson of gross negligence that resulted in the deaths of Ken Jones, Victor Barahona Rivera and Juan Jauregui Samudio, all workers at Tyson’s Storm Lake plants. its narrow red meat processing lines, erecting barriers between workers, slowing down lines and supplying masks and other protective equipment.
Families also say Tyson officials have done inadequate work to check painters for infections and clean up factories.
“Tyson and his painting executivesArray. had to (Jones, Rivera and Samudio) work in a coronavirus (sic) environment when they knew or knew that Tyson was not implementing the mandatory protective precautions,” Mary and Willis Hamilton, the attorneys. because of the case, he wrote almost the same motions.
More: Biden Unveils Billion-Dollar Plan to Increase Competition in Meat Packaging and Lower Consumer Prices
Tyson’s spokeswoman, Liz Croston, declined to comment. But Robert Kelmer, an attorney for Tyson, wrote in an April 2021 letter to the U. S. Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee. Journalists and politicians were punishing Tyson for being more than some of his competitors.
Kelmer wrote that Tyson executives established a coronavirus task force in January 2020, held masses at factories in April and May of the same year, and shared the control effects with public fitness agencies. In addition to buying protective appliances and cleaning products, Kelmer wrote, the company spent $86 million on Array.
Unlike the meatpacking giants, Tyson announced a coronavirus vaccine mandate in the fall of 2021.
“Tyson’s resolve to be transparent with his checks, adding to the publication of his check knowledge on an ongoing basis for months, has led to misplaced and ill-informed public criticism,” Kelmer wrote.
Despite the outbreaks that led to the transient plant closure, Tyson still recorded an operating revenue stream of $775 million for the April-June 2020 era, a reduction of about $6 million, or less than 1%, from the same era a year earlier.
Storm Lake, one of the hardest-hit meatpacking cities in the country. The company reported 1,476 infections through February 2021 at Tyson’s pork processing plant and a turkey processing plant at Hillshire Brands, a subsidiary of Tyson, the third-largest related to Tyson. outbreak in the country.
The company also reported 4 deaths in Storm Lake. Attorney Willis Hamilton said he believes the death toll in the city is higher. In addition to the 3 cases filed through his law corporation last month, Hamilton represents the circle of relatives of Michael Everhard, some other Tyson worker in Storm Lake who died from the pandemic.
Also: Michael Everhard, an avid Viking fanatic, a fierce protector of his children.
He said he heard that immigrants from Micronesia working at the factory had also died, but their families have filed lawsuits.
“I can’t believe there are only 4 (dead),” he said.
Ken Jones, a Tyson maintenance worker in Storm Lake who died after a two-week hospital stay.
His wife, Sara Jones, told the Des Moines Register later that year that he was originally from Chicago and moved to Texas before moving to Iowa in 2007. He was a Jehovah’s Witness who enjoyed the Chicago Bears and Bulls and cooked red meat chops and salmon. Croquettes.
“He’s there to help anyone, with a big heart,” Sara Jones told the newspaper in October 2020. “Everyone loves it. “
Tyler Jett covers jobs and the for Des Moines Register. Reach him at tjett@registermedia. com, 515-284-8215, or on Twitter at @LetsJett.
This Article Struck the Impression on Des Moines Register: Iowa COVID-19 Death Lawsuits Lead Tyson to Seek Supreme Court Protection