Missouri Takes CCP to Court for $25 Billion Over Hoarding of COVID-19 Protective Equipment

Andrew Bailey during the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference the Gaylord National Convention Center in Fort Washington, Maryland, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. Photo by Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will be on trial in Missouri on Jan. 27 after the state sued over damages sustained as a result of its actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re hauling China into court to hold them accountable for unleashing COVID-19 on the world,” state Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a press release, Gray Media local affiliate KAIT8 reported.

It said that Bailey is scheduled to appear in federal district court in Cape Girardeau for the trial.

Missouri will be the first state to sue the CCP and its relevant entities over actions it says allowed COVID-19 to spread globally.

Bailey’s office said it will seek $25 billion in damages for actions it says caused significant loss of life and economic disruptions in Missouri and harmed its citizens.

“Missouri v. China is truly a landmark case, as we seek $25 billion in damages,” Bailey said. “We won a key victory in this case last year, so we’re feeling confident heading into trial.”

Bailey filed the lawsuit in federal district court in 2020 during the pandemic. Bailey’s office sought damages for the CCP’s cover up of critical information about human-to-human spread of the virus inside China and for hoarding personal protective equipment.

None of the China-based defendants named in the lawsuit responded, though briefs were filed by Lawyers for Upholding International Law and The China Society of Private International Law to defend China.

The CCP dismissed any factual or legal basis for the lawsuit, which it called “very absurd.”

The case was dismissed by the district court judge, who ruled that the defendants were immune under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which generally prohibits lawsuits against foreign states in U.S. courts. Upon appeal to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Missouri’s case was revived in January 2024 but only for the state’s claims regarding the hoarding of personal protective equipment.

The panel ruled that part of the lawsuit as an antitrust claim that fell under the statutory exception related to commercial activity by foreign states.

The state must now prove that the CCP and the other named China-based entities hoarded personal protective equipment, and that the direct effect of this caused harm to Missouri and its citizens.

The CCP is not expected to have a representative in court, which could make a default judgment in Missouri’s favor easier to achieve, facing no cross-examination or rebuttals from China.

Critics of the case have called it a stunt aimed at publicly placing blame on the CCP for the COVID-19 pandemic. Some legal experts have also warned that the case could set a risky precedent to see foreign governments allow plaintiffs to sue the United States in tribunals around the world.