On Monday, August 31, the Hubei Provincial Government of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hired a powerful American law firm in an attempt to overturn a $24.5 billion compensation judgment obtained by Missouri for accusing the CCP of hoarding personal protective equipment at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Missouri responded, saying that it is too late for the Chinese side to challenge the judgment, and they will continue to hold the CCP accountable.
The Hubei government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences submitted documents to the Federal Court of Missouri on Monday, requesting the revocation of the default judgment and the dismissal of the lawsuit.
They hired the globally renowned law firm White & Case based in the United States. The firm has over 2,500 lawyers, including senior litigation partner Christopher Curran based in Washington, D.C. Curran has represented several foreign governments in U.S. courts.
In April 2020, Missouri filed a lawsuit against the CCP Central Government, the Hubei local government, and other relevant parties, holding them responsible for the economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was one of the first such lawsuits brought by a U.S. state government against the CCP and related entities.
Missouri accused China of “shocking deception, concealment, dereliction of duty, and inaction” during the early stages of the outbreak, leading to shortages and price increases of PPE in the United States.
The defendants include the People’s Republic of China (Communist China), the Chinese Communist Party, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the Hubei Provincial Government, the Wuhan Municipal Government, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In 2021, a federal district court judge invoked the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and dismissed the lawsuit. After the dismissal, Missouri shifted its focus to CCP leaders allegedly knowing about the virus as early as September 2019, while the World Health Organization did not confirm human-to-human transmission until December 2019.
Due to China’s unilateral actions, Missourians paid higher prices for masks, making it difficult to safely and effectively treat virus-infected individuals.
According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, over 21,000 Missouri residents died from COVID-related complications between 2020 and 2022.
In 2024, the Federal Appeals Court reinstated parts of Missouri’s lawsuit.
In March 2025, due to the defendants’ failure to appear in court, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. issued a default judgment. At the time, the Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey stated that the state would enforce the judgment by seizing Chinese assets, including farmland in Missouri.
The initially determined compensatory damages were around $8 billion. According to relevant laws, the amount was later increased to approximately $24.5 billion.
On Monday, Hubei Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences argued in the submitted documents that the district court had no authority to hear the lawsuit against them, and the default judgment improperly interfered with diplomatic affairs.
The defendants also claimed in court that “Missouri failed to provide any evidence that any defendant violated contracts to deliver PPE to the United States during the relevant period.” The defense attorney from White & Case declined to comment.
Court records showed that the evidence presented by the prosecutor included a statement from a Wuhan University professor who knew about a COVID patient in September 2019, as well as a report from the U.S. State Department suggesting that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology experienced symptoms similar to COVID in the fall of 2019. The lawsuit alleged that around this time, Hubei Province began purchasing more pathogen testing equipment.
The lawsuit claimed that China controlled factories in China owned by U.S. companies, including 3M and General Motors, and prevented the export of equipment to the U.S., leading to hoarding and monopolization of PPE such as masks and medical equipment.
A spokesperson for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office issued a statement on Monday stating that China’s challenge to the judgment is “too late.” The office said, “We will continue to hold China (CCP) accountable for the suffering they caused to the people of Missouri during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The case against the People’s Republic of China and others is referenced as 1:20-cv-00099-SNLJ and is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.