ROSEBURG — As businesses begin to welcome customers back and schools prepare to reopen in the fall, some are worried that even if they follow all the rules, a COVID-19 outbreak could be tied to them and prompt a costly lawsuit.

Roseburg Public Schools was recently informed by its insurer Pace that it would not be covered for COVID-19 issues after July 1. That means the school district would have no liability protection to cover the expenses of such a lawsuit.

“Liability is something that is keeping me up at night,” said Roseburg Public Schools Superintendent Jared Cordon.

A broad coalition of organizations has formed around the issue. The Coalition of Oregon School Administrators is on board, along with a host of business interests, including the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Business and Industry, the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Oregon Farm Bureau. The groups are asking the state Legislature to use next week’s special session to pass laws protecting them from COVID-19 lawsuits.

“We’re trying to push hard that the Legislature consider some language that people acting in good faith shouldn’t be subject to civil damages that result from opening, particularly when that opening is following the guidance that’s been provided,” Cordon said.

Cordon said the school district is doing everything it can to follow the governor’s orders and the Oregon Health Authority’s guidelines on reopening safely.

“The dilemma right now is that even if we do all of that there’s still this fact that we could still face lawsuits related to COVID and not have any coverage for those,” he said.

Cordon said the legislation being proposed would not cover liability expenses for organizations that don’t follow the state’s safety rules.

“The ask isn’t for covering gross negligence. It’s not for recklessness or willful misconduct,” he said.

Cordon said a recent survey of 1,500 parents and 500 students found an overwhelming majority want students to return to school.

“We really are trying to listen to our parents and our kids, and the large majority wants to get kids back into a sense of normalcy. And our staff really wants kids back,” he said.

But he also doesn’t want to put students’ safety or public funds at risk, he said.

Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, an organization that lobbies Salem on behalf of many of the chambers of commerce around the state, has organized an online letter-writing campaign pushing for the governor and state legislators to take up COVID-19 lawsuit protections at the upcoming special session.

OSCC lobbyist Jenny Dresler said so far the liability issue has not appeared on any list she’s seen of the planned topics for next week’s legislative session.

But she said it needs to be on the agenda.

Even unsuccessful lawsuits, or those that wind up in settlement, could be expensive enough to cripple small mom and pop businesses already strapped for cash following months of shutdown, she said.

“That is a big concern right now, especially as people are as cash poor as they are as they work to reopen,” she said.

She said she’s heard lots of concern from business owners in the personal service industry, such as hair salons, who are especially fearful of possible lawsuits.

“That would be the end of their business, and they could potentially lose their home,” she said. “This is scary stuff.”

State Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Winston, said he would need to see proposed legislation before he could decide whether to support it. While he said he’s sympathetic to the concerns of small business owners, he also sounded a note of caution.

He said he’s reluctant to take away individuals’ right to sue organizations whose actions have harmed them, especially where the defendants are large corporations or government entities.

“Liability protection,” Heard said, “meaning taking away the ability for citizens to have recourse against someone or something I think is a very dangerous place.”