Consumer Law & Policy Blog

Instead of Liability Waivers, Reduce the Spread of Covid-19

by Jeff Sovern

My latest Bloomberg Law Insight piece. Excerpt:

No doubt the same people who want to free businesses of accountability for sickening people would oppose the outlawing of Covid-19 liability waivers as an infringement on liberty. But practically no one reads contracts—not even consumer law professors. And if consumers do read them, they probably can’t understand them. A study I co-authored found that few consumers grasped the meaning of a clause that took away their right to sue in court.

In short, the liberty involved is almost certainly only that of the companies, not the consumers.

Covid-19 cannot be blocked by a signature on a piece of paper. Congress should make sure that the same is true of responsibility for spreading it. Otherwise, we will have lots of legal documents but more people will die of the virus.

FDA warns companies to stop misleading consumers by promoting herbal products to treat Covid-19

The FDA has issued warning letters to two companies -- Griffo Botanicals and Prairie Dawn Herbs -- telling them to stop promoting non-FDA-approved herbal products "to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19." 

These letters include this language:

FDA is advising consumers not to purchase or use certain products that have not been approved, cleared, or authorized by FDA and that are being misleadingly represented as safe and/or effective for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19. Your firm will be added to a published list on FDA’s website of firms and websites that have received warning letters from FDA concerning the sale or distribution of COVID-19 related products in violation of the FD&C Act. This list can be found at http://www.fda.gov/consumers/health-fraud-scams/fraudulent-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-products.