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House asks state attorney general to pursue litigation against China over COVID‑19, seeks $100 billion in damages
Summary
The House adopted House Concurrent Resolution 6009 directing the attorney general to file suit seeking $100 billion in damages and to establish a victims compensation fund; sponsor Representative Schaeffauer cited recent intelligence and a Missouri default judgment as justification. The measure passed 40–28–1.
The South Dakota House of Representatives on Feb. 12 adopted House Concurrent Resolution 6009, which urges Attorney General Marty Jackley to file suit against the People’s Republic of China and other parties for alleged responsibility in the origin and spread of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
Representative G. Schaeffauer, the resolution’s prime sponsor, told the chamber that new intelligence and research have renewed questions about the virus’s origin and that other states have already pursued litigation. “This resolution directs our esteemed attorney general…to join the growing number of states…and to seek compensatory damages in the amount of $100,000,000,000,” Schaeffauer said. The resolution also directs establishment of a COVID victims compensation fund providing up to $250,000 per qualifying claimant.
Supporters referenced recent reporting and litigation developments. Schaeffauer and other backers cited assertions from U.S. intelligence reporting and a recent default judgment in Missouri that, they said, created a legal precedent. Representative Heinemann also spoke in favor, recounting a briefing to the state affairs committee and repeating claims that the virus originated in a Wuhan research laboratory.
Opponents raised legal concerns. Representative Kristi Whitman asked whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act would bar suits against a foreign nation; Schaeffauer replied that recent federal court decisions in the U.S. Eighth Circuit and related litigation have limited the sovereign‑immunity defense in similar contexts, and that Missouri had obtained a default judgment in a recent case.
The resolution expresses the House’s view and asks the attorney general to consider litigation and to seek specified remedies; it does not itself initiate a lawsuit. The House approved the resolution by a recorded vote of 40 ayes, 28 nays and 1 excused. The resolution will be transmitted to the attorney general’s office for consideration.
