The Chinese province where COVID-19 first emerged has hired one of Washington's most prominent law firms to try to erase a $24.5 billion default judgment that Missouri won against Beijing over the pandemic. The People's Government of Hubei Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have retained White & Case to ask a federal judge to set aside the ruling and dismiss the case entirely, arguing the court never had authority over them in the first place.
The filing marks Hubei's first real legal fight in a case it had ignored for years. As reported by Reuters, Hubei Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences argued that the district judge has no power over them and that the default judgment improperly intrudes into foreign affairs. Hubei is the epicenter of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak, and the defendants told the court that Missouri put forward no evidence that any defendant broke a contract to ship personal protective equipment to the United States.
A Case That Sat Unanswered for Years
Missouri filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against Hubei, China's central government and other entities in April 2020, seeking to hold them responsible for alleged economic damages stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The defendants allegedly monopolized supplies of personal protective equipment, driving up prices and causing economic harm, according to the case, formally known as Missouri v. People's Republic of China et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri under case number 1:20-cv-00099-SNLJ.
A federal appeals court revived part of the lawsuit in 2024, narrowing it under the commercial-activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which strips foreign sovereigns of immunity for commercial acts performed outside the U.S. that cause a direct effect within its borders, per the U.S. Department of State. That ruling from the Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Missouri's public nuisance and tort claims while sending the PPE-hoarding claim back for further proceedings, according to Justia Law's account of the decision.
Because the named defendants failed to respond or make any appearance in the case, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. entered a default judgment against them in March 2025. The court found $8 billion in compensatory damages, which were tripled under federal law to reach the final $24.5 billion award. That judgment was entered specifically in the Southeastern Division of the Eastern District of Missouri in Cape Girardeau, according to court records reviewed by FindLaw.
Hubei Finally Answers, Years Late
Now, the People's Government of Hubei Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have filed a formal request asking the judge to throw out the judgment and dismiss the lawsuit outright. White & Case, a U.S.-founded global law firm employing more than 2,500 lawyers, is representing them, with senior litigation partner Christopher Curran of the firm's Washington, D.C. office leading the effort. Curran has represented many foreign countries in U.S. court, but White & Case's defense lawyers declined to comment on the current case.
Missouri's Attorney General's Office pushed back hard on the timing of the challenge, saying China is several years too late in challenging the judgment. The office said it will continue to hold China accountable for suffering inflicted on Missourians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew Bailey, who served as Missouri's attorney general at the time the default judgment was entered, had said the state planned to collect the judgment by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland.
Farmland Seizures Face a Steep Legal Climb
Bailey has since stepped down to become FBI Deputy Director, handing off the state's collection push to current Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, who initiated formal diplomatic service of the judgment under FSIA Section 1608(a)(4) through the U.S. State Department in December, according to the St. Louis Record. Missouri Department of Agriculture data reported in 2024 showed Chinese entities held roughly 43,000 acres of Missouri farmland, most of it tied to WH Group's 2013 purchase of Smithfield Foods, per Lake TV. Under Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 442.571, foreign ownership of the state's agricultural land is capped once it exceeds 1% of Missouri's total aggregate acreage.
But actually seizing those assets is a far taller order than winning a default judgment. International law scholars noted in December that asset execution immunity under FSIA Sections 1609 through 1611 is significantly broader than jurisdictional immunity in a lawsuit, creating substantial legal barriers to seizing foreign state assets on U.S. soil, according to the Missouri Independent. Separately, then-Governor Mike Parson signed Executive Order 24-01 in January 2024, restricting individuals and entities from foreign adversary nations, including China, from buying farmland within 10 miles of critical military sites such as Whiteman Air Force Base and Fort Leonard Wood.
Beijing Fires Back With Its Own Lawsuit
The legal fight has already spilled across the Pacific. In December, the People's Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology filed a counter-lawsuit in the Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan demanding $50.5 billion in damages and a public apology from Missouri state officials, as reported by The Missouri Times. That Chinese lawsuit characterized Missouri's asset-seizure efforts as an economic and reputational menace.
Hubei's decision to retain White & Case signals a shift from years of non-participation to a formal challenge against federal judicial authority and the state's diplomatic service compliance. Hoodline previously covered Bailey's pandemic legacy as he prepared to leave for the FBI, with the $24 billion judgment against Chinese entities highlighted as one of his signature accomplishments. Whether Missouri can ever collect on that judgment now hinges on a federal court fight that, years after it began, is only just becoming contested.
