China owes Missouri $24 billion in damages for “causing and exacerbating” the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh late Friday ruled specifically that China hoarded and obstructed Missourians’ access to personal protective equipment (PPE) – though Missouri produced evidence that China also caused the pandemic through a leak of the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office claims the $24 billion judgment is “six times more than the previous largest judgment in Missouri history.”
China declined to appear or otherwise acknowledge the landmark lawsuit, filed in 2020 by Bailey’s predecessor and current U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt.
“China refused to show up to court, but that doesn’t mean they get away with causing untold suffering and economic devastation,” Bailey said in a statement. “We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland.”
Limbaugh initially dismissed the case in 2022 for lack of jurisdiction. An appeals court agreed Missouri couldn’t sue China for allegedly creating and leaking the virus, but reinstated the state’s claim that the country hoarded and obstructed access to PPE, which it had a virtual monopoly on.
Bailey told The Heartlander last month that China “made COVID worse by lying to the world about what was going on and hoarding PPE during that time.
“Essentially, China decided that they were going to lie to the world so that they could have additional months to hoard PPE. That meant that everybody else was behind the ball. It meant that when we needed to buy stuff from China, China could jack up the prices before selling it to us.”
Schmitt was clearly elated by the ruling.
“When I was AG in Missouri I sued China for unleashing Covid on the world,” he posted on X. “My successor & friend @AGAndrewBailey continued the work & today the court awarded Missouri $24+ Billion in damages.
“Missouri can now seize assets
“Just call us the Show Me (the money) state.”
