Class-action suit demands $20 trillion from China for coronavirus damages

Twenty trillion dollars. Or $20,000,000,000,000

Plus "other relief the court may deem just and proper."

That's what a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas is demanding from China for allowing the coronavirus to spread from the city of Wuhan around the world, forcing unprecedented restrictions on public life that could trigger economic recession or even depression.

On Tuesday, Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch and a former federal prosecutor, filed the complaint against China, the People's Liberation Army, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and several individuals.

Klayman insisted the lawsuit is not for political reasons but to aid the victims.

The objective, he said, is to "have a jury award damages to the victims of China's release of the COVID-19 virus, which has already killed many Americans, exposed huge numbers of others to death and harm, caused extreme emotional distress to loved ones and friends, and is on the verge of causing a near total stock market and economic collapse."

"There is no reason why the American taxpayer should, contrary to the [will of the] establishment in Washington, D.C., have to pay for the tremendous harm caused by the Chinese government. The Chinese people are a good people, but their government is not and it must be made to pay dearly. The huge relief package now likely to pass in Congress will further bankrupt the nation and We the People must ourselves take legal matters into our own hands," he said.

"The Chinese government and its officials are not immune from suit, as biological weapons are not just outlawed by international conventions, but are in effect a terrorist weapon, that are developed to destroy civilian populations."

Klayman is assembling a team of lawyers to represent the huge numbers of Americans who have been harmed.

"This will be a costly endeavor," he said.

He urged Americans who want to join the class-action suit to sign up at Freedom Watch's website

The complaint states: "This is a complaint for damages and equitable relief arising out of the creation and release, accidental or otherwise, of a variation of coronavirus known as COVID-19 by the People's Republic of China and its agencies and officials as a biological weapon in violation of China's agreements under international treaties, and recklessly or otherwise allowing its release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology into the city of Wuhan, China, in Hubei Province, by among other acts failing to prevent the institute's personnel from becoming infected with the bioweapon and carrying it into the surrounding community and proliferation into the United States."

He said the virus amounts to a terror attack, since "biological weapons have been outlawed since at least 1925."

"American stock markets are in a free fall and have already lost about 30% of their value, with more severe losses expected to continue as part of a stock market crash," he said.

The complaint accuses China of "aiding and abetting the risk of death or serious bodily injuries to United States citizens," "provision of material support to terrorists," "conspiracy," "negligence," "wrongful death," and "assault and battery."