Missouri seeks federal help in pressing China for $25 billion in COVID damages

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri has escalated its attempt to seize Chinese government-owned property across the United States, asking the Trump administration for help collecting on a roughly $25 billion court judgment related to the COVID-19 pandemic that Beijing has flatly rejected.

Missouri is asking the U.S. State Department to formally notify China that the state intends to pursue assets with full or partial Chinese government ownership to satisfy the judgment, state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said Wednesday.

The move stems from a lawsuit alleging China hoarded personal protective equipment during the early months of the pandemic, harming Missouri and its residents. A federal judge ruled for Missouri earlier this year after China declined to participate in the trial, calling the lawsuit “ very absurd ” when it was filed in 2020.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier this year that its actions during the pandemic aren’t subject to U.S. jurisdiction and it doesn’t recognize the ruling.

Some legal experts have cast doubt on whether Missouri can collect on the judgment, because federal law generally shields foreign nations from lawsuits in U.S. courts.

Hanaway said she expects a long process.

“We think the state was damaged. We want to recover,” Hanaway said. “It costs money to provide health care and other benefits to people as a result of the epidemic.”

As a first step, Hanaway’s office sent a letter Wednesday to a federal court asking it to forward copies of the judgment to the secretary of state’s office to be served on China.

She said her office is still assembling a list of Chinese properties that could be targeted. She said Missouri is focusing on properties wholly owned by the Chinese government, as well as those owned by companies in which the Chinese government has a stake.

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement on Wednesday that China’s policies and measures during the pandemic were “acts of national sovereignty and are not subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.”

“The so-called pandemic compensation lawsuits fabricated by certain forces in the U.S. ignore basic objective facts and violate fundamental legal principles; they are purely malicious frivolous lawsuits and political manipulation, with extremely sinister intentions,” Liu said. “China firmly opposes them and will not accept any so-called default judgments.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The case has taken an unusual path. U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2022, saying Missouri couldn’t sue China or the other defendants. But an appeals court allowed one part of the lawsuit to proceed: the allegation that China hoarded personal protective equipment, such as respirator masks, medical gowns and gloves.

After Chinese officials didn’t respond, Limbaugh accepted Missouri’s estimate of past and potential future damages of more than $8 billion, tripled it as federal law allows, and added 3.91% interest until it’s collected.

The lawsuit was originally filed by state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Trump ally who subsequently won election to the U.S. Senate. It was carried on by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, another Trump ally who resigned in September to become co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hanaway, a former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker, inherited the case when she was appointed as state attorney general by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.

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Associated Press reporter Didi Tang contributed from Washington.