Lawsuits piling up across US amid coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on the legal system — as lawsuits related to the outbreak have poured in across the Big Apple and the US.

Attorneys told The Post Friday that countless legal issues could arise as a result of the crisis — related to employment labor law, insurance coverage, landlord-tenant matters, contract disputes, and, naturally — medical malpractice.

“Just like 9/11 related litigation, some of which are still ongoing, there will be a cornucopia of issues arising from this,” Manhattan Civil lawyer Elizabeth Eilender told The Post. “You could teach several law school courses based just on all the different kinds of cases that will come out of this. There are going to be a million lawsuits.”

“The courts and counsel are already grappling with how to conduct business, with deadlines and trial dates in limbo,” added Imran H. Ansari, a partner in the Brooklyn-based Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins firm. “Undoubtedly, once the storm has cleared, the floodgates of litigation will be open in many areas of law.”

In the Big Apple, several suits center around the safety of corrections officers and inmates during the pandemic.

In one, the Corrections Officer Benevolent Association — the union representing more than 8,000 corrections officers — charges that the city needs to provide guards with face masks and hand sanitizer to keep them safe from coronavirus.

The union’s petition, filed in Queens Supreme Court, says that in addition to proper personal protection equipment, the city Department of Correction needs to start testing staff for COVID-19.

“Being required to work in an atmosphere of absolute terror that one might be exposed to this disease or contract it, or pass it on to family and friends, is itself a harm that no amount of damages can cure,” the lawsuit states.

In response to the suit, Law Department spokeswoman Nicholas Paolucci said that “the administration is deeply concerned about the health and safety of its employees” and has been working to ensure that all correctional facilities are safe.

“One of the most significant things we have done is dramatically reduce the correctional facility population to ensure all have the proper social distance to avoid the disease,” he added.

Late Thursday alone, the Legal Aid Society filed orders seeking the release of three prisoners in separate facilities who have underlying conditions and could be vulnerable to the coronavirus.

Manhattan civil attorney Michael O’Neill contended Friday that the delay in shuttering city schools amid the outbreak could be a cause for a suit.

“One thing I have seen discussed is a possible suit against the Department of Education for not closing the schools,” he told the Post.

In the business realm, two companies are clashing over the $121 million sale of a Marriott hotel near LaGuardia Airport that has been scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.