In 2020, I wrote that the Coronavirus pandemic is the worst thing that has happened to the USA since Pearl Harbor. President Trump actually repeated my sentiments during that catastrophic period. Further, nations worldwide have fought a war on a pandemic that is unlike any catastrophe dealt with before. Millions of people lost their jobs, homes, pensions, health care and more.

I wrote this article in 2020—but never published it, as I am against lawsuits, but I foresee COVID-19-related lawsuits ahead. America’s plaintiff lawyers may eventually try to show cause, scienter and negligence against anyone at fault for non-mitigation of risks, injuries and deaths.

The delisting of China stocks from the New York Stock Exchange (and other exchanges) may be intentional, due to lessons learned; most people don’t know that Chinese-listed companies on the U.S. stock exchanges are some of the biggest in the world and are “state owned” or government owned. Thus, any “publicly traded” company may be exposed, worldwide, to lawsuits and class-action lawsuits.

In 2020, I noticed a trend of some Chinese stocks being delisted from exchanges, and now, in 2022, my suspicions have been confirmed While some may argue that Chinese companies are tired of trying to comport to U.S. securities laws and compliance, I tend to believe that the Chinese government wants to have a “China First Stock Market,” create their own independent sustainability, run their stocks markets internally, and avoid U.S. & EU regulations and lawsuits.

The NYSE’s decision to kick major Chinese stocks off the exchange ostensibly provides yet another legal protection to China, COVID-19 lawsuits aside.


China First

Most people don’t know this, but China has held a “Reagan Like” “China First” policy since before Trump took office in 2017.  Therefore, China has had the desire to be a self-sustainable nation that meets all needs internally or obtains what it needs through dominant acquisition outside of China. If you look back, China was even under pressure to write off loans to many countries during the pandemic, but this problem actually led to China taking the opposite tack, capturing more assets, land, and farms—all when debtors defaulted.

If China is ever civilly attacked with lawsuits for having some comparative fault for the COVID pandemic, lawyers will demand reparations for widows and orphans including billions in hospital debts etc. U.S. allies in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Italy etc. suffered greatly, also with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Thus, the loss, legal damages and costs are a global problem beyond the emotions of just American citizens.  

Remember, this is the first time since 2001, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 , that a president and a nation has been forced to deal with an international hazard and peril that greatly affects our economy.

Moreover, the harm has produced a multitude of new preventative costs for consumers, much like the Sept. 11^th attacks created TSA and other costs. As for the total damages, millions have been infected and over one million in the USA have died alone, with the majority of deaths occurring after Trump left office. In 2022, we do not know how many strains will erupt or evolve, but some sort of immunity may have been created in the last 2 years.

If the travel ban had not been implemented by President Trump on Jan 31^st, some experts believe that there would have been up to 2-5 million dead in 2020.  For weeks, the anti-Trump resistance to travel bans included: Pelosi, Obama, Cuomo and the Democrats in Congress who fought against travel limitations into New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. Just 8 weeks later, NY, MA, NJ and PA had over 50% of the total fatalities in the USA. Then, the pandemic spread from the Northeast into Chicago, the Midwest and into the rest of the USA.

Without a doubt, this is the worst crisis that has ever been thrust upon a U.S. president from afar. Millions lost their jobs, pensions, health care, while others lost their loved ones, parents, homes, leases, apartments and assets. While many states rebounded a bit more quickly using common sense safety standards, governors who didn’t let their citizens get back to work caused lasting harm even hurting the potential Social Security benefits of working families by reducing the number of quarters needed for retirement benefits.

Strangely, anti-Trump politicians didn’t even want to give liability protections to workers including: small businesses, teachers, nurses, flight attendants, and peace officers.


Attacks by Invisible Enemies

After the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush's job approval soared to meteoric heights partially because we were attacked by a foreign and somewhat invisible enemy and not by a sovereign country or nation. With the COVID 19, we were again attacked by foreign forces where no country or individual was directly blamed yet, unless lawsuits prevail against defendants.

Remember, hundreds of thousands of Americans lost loved ones due to a pandemic that could have been mitigated if the World Health Organization (WHO) and other offshore bureaucrats had not downplayed travel restrictions and the epidemic.

With that being said, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans with legal standing to join a lawsuit against the WHO or companies that brought people into the USA who were infected. “But for” the actions and inactions of a few governmental and NGO leaders, this deadly harm may not have exploded in the EU and USA.

As a note to foreign readers and analysts, it would have been smart for those seemingly responsible for COVID’s spread to setup a victim’s relief fund rather than go to court. In the USA, civil cases only require a preponderance of the evidence which is a mere 51% fault. Comparative negligence can also be applied to the defendants. In contrast, criminal cases require a standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” which is a proof standard of something like 90% or higher. Thus, proving negligence in a civil case needing only to show 51% guilt may not be that difficult.

In the USA, we have seen successful “class action style” lawsuits against foreign companies who benefited from harm or injury done to others in the past. We have seen legal settlements between survivors and victims in the USA and major corporations abroad. We have even seen Congressional Legislation give tax breaks to victims of injury from catastrophic harm also in the "Holocaust Reparations Act".  Thus, the legal doors may or may not swing wide open soon for victims of this international disaster, but it does seem that Chinese companies want to get out of the USA and avoid the possibility of lawsuits or securities class actions against “state owned enterprises”.

Overall, we may soon see a flood of applications for disability benefits from “long Covid” and maybe some test lawsuits against other entities, but applying comparative fault would end up becoming the job of judge and jury.

Furthermore, investors in the future may be required to buy ETFs that hold China stocks because most if not all of these companies and stocks will not be listed in the USA anymore.
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George Mentz JD MBA CILS is a CWM Chartered Wealth Manager ®, global speaker - educator, tax-economist, international lawyer and CEO of the GAFM Global Academy of Finance & Management ®. The GAFM is an ESQ EU accredited graduate body that offers certification training in 150+ nations under ISO 21001 and ISO 9001 standards. Mentz is also an award winning author and graduate law professor of wealth management in the USA.

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