MIAMI - Walgreens has lost a key ruling as it sought protection from liability for the death of a man who suffered cardiac arrest after receiving his COVID vaccine.
The Estate of Alfredo Barrera originally filed its lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court in 2023, alleging the company and pharmacist Melinda Davis were negligent in giving Barrera a COVID vaccine.
Barrera died July 28, 2021, the day after receiving a COVID vaccine at Walgreens. He suffered a cardiac arrest, and his estate claims Davis ignored protocol in reviewing his VAR form.
He answered "unknown" regarding health conditions such as heart disease. The plaintiff alleges that if Davis had followed proper protocol before giving the vaccine to Barrera, she would have ensured that the vaccine was appropriate.
The plaintiff also alleges the defendants failed to warn Barrera, who was found to be hypertensive and had atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or advise him to seek medical clearance after answering "unknown."
Like many other COVID-era injury cases, the defendants pointed to the PREP Act when arguing for federal jurisdiction. The law lets the secretary of Health & Human Services to declare a disease presents a public health emergency and provides protections from liability.
At issue in the Barrera case is whether the injury arose from the "administration" of a countermeasure. If it were a countermeasure covered by the PREP Act, Walgreens could have argued it would be immune from liability.
Walgreens argued the complaint invoked the PREP Act by alleging willful misconduct, an exception to immunity.
"However, Defendants' argument ignores that Plaintiff's complaint alleges the elements of negligence, which is plainly unavailable under the PREP Act," Miami federal magistrate judge Lauren Louis wrote last month in recommending the case be sent back to state court.
"The Court is not convinced that the PREP Act can be summoned with the words 'willful misconduct,' especially in light of the heightened pleading standard that the PREP Act imposes."
On June 20, District Judge Darrin Gayles agreed with Louis in a three-page order, rejecting objections made by Walgreens six days earlier.
Walgreens had argued a 2021 ruling by the Third Circuit that said the PREP Act creates an exclusive federal cause of action for willful misconduct. The case involved wrongful death claims against nursing homes.