Lawsuit Accusing China of Hoarding Pandemic Gear Can Proceed, Says Court

Staff members and volunteers transfer medical supplies at a warehouse in Wuhan on Feb. 4, 2020. AFP via Getty Images

A lawsuit filed in Missouri accusing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of hoarding masks and other protective gear during the COVID-19 crisis has been given the green light to proceed by federal judges.

Former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed the 2020 lawsuit claiming that Chinese authorities’ actions led to harsh effects and deaths in his state. However, a court tossed the case out in 2022 because the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act prohibits a sovereign foreign entity from being sued in American courts. The United States Eighth District Court of Appeals panel upheld that decision in a recent Jan. 10 ruling but with one key difference.

At this stage, the federal appeals court has ruled Missouri can only proceed with one claim in its ongoing legal action against the CCP: the allegation that China hoarded personal-protective equipment while the rest of the world was in the dark about the disease. Appeals court Judge David Stras said, “Missouri’s overarching theory is that China leveraged the world’s ignorance about COVID-19.”

“One way it did so was by manipulating the worldwide personal-protective-equipment market, Missouri must still prove it, but it has alleged enough to allow the claim to proceed beyond a jurisdictional dismissal on the pleadings,” Judge Stras added.

However, Chief Judge Lavenski Smith disagreed, writing in his opinion that the whole lawsuit should be dismissed immediately under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

“Immunity for foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, while not impenetrable, is quite stout and stronger than the claim alleged in this case,” he said.

“It is certainly not strong enough to justify judicial intervention into an arena well populated with substantial political and diplomatic concerns.”

At the same time, current Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey applauded the decision in a Jan. 10 statement on X, formerly Twitter, and revealed that his state is ready to head back to court.

“The Eighth Circuit has ruled in favor of Missouri in our lawsuit against communist China for the harm it caused Americans during COVID-19,” he said. “We are headed back to court to pursue remedies.”

China’s Foreign Ministry Slams Lawsuit

Lawyers for The China Society of Private International Law have filed briefs defending China against the lawsuit. Previously, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had slammed the legal efforts as “very absurd” and said it had “no factual and legal basis at all.”

According to court documents, Missouri’s lawsuit argue that the CCP is to blame for the rapid international spread of COVID-19 through negligence at its Wuhan Institute of Virology and engaged in a campaign to keep other countries from learning about it.

“In the meantime, the Chinese government bought up masks (and other types of personal-protective equipment). Hoarding them allowed China to sell lower-quality masks as the outbreak spread,” the court documents say.

“These actions cost the state thousands of lives and ’tens of billions’ of dollars in economic damage. Missouri now seeks to hold various Chinese entities responsible.”

So far, none of the nine defendants, which includes the CCP, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, have appeared to answer the charges and are highly unlikely to. Their absence led to a default being entered, which in turn led to most of the lawsuit allegations being thrown out because of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

A man crosses an empty highway in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 3, 2020. Getty Images

It has been revealed that Chinese authorities were aware of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan by at least mid-December 2020. The regime didn’t make this admission until Jan. 20 the following year, after around 5 million people had left Wuhan for overseas.

On Jan. 23, CCP officials implemented the first containment and quarantine measures for Wuhan and Hubei Province. Missouri’s lawsuit leads action among the chorus of critics of the CCP’s response to the virus outbreak.