Reversing itself, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal held that a public utility’s obligation to maintain its equipment and facilities was the sort of activity that could be subcontracted to another firm and that when it had properly... Read More
Despite the apparent harshness of the rule, the Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed a trial court’s decision granting a general contractor and building owner summary judgment in a wrongful death action filed by the estate of an apprentice electrician... Read More
The Supreme Court of Utah noted that although the intentional tort exception to workers’ compensation exclusivity clearly applied to claims governed by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), the issue had never been decided for... Read More
A grave digger’s allegations that he had sustained emotional distress injuries resulting from the fact that, as part of his employment duties, he was sometimes required to step onto the top of caskets during the burial process was insufficient to... Read More
Where a teacher filed a tort claim against her employer alleging violations of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD), contending that the employer had failed to accommodate her pre-existing disability, her action was not barred by the exclusive... Read More
Utilizing the co-employee “intentional injury” exception to Alabama’s exclusive remedy rule [see Ala. Code § 25-5-11(b)], the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed a trial court’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of... Read More
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin, in a split decision, held that an injured employee’s civil action against his employer’s workers’ compensation insurer for damages arising out of its refusal to continue to pay for his antidepressant medication—he... Read More
A New Jersey appellate court held that a parking lot that was owned by a township and adjacent to a township library was nevertheless not part of the library's "premises," for purposes of a civil action filed by a township librarian and... Read More
An Iowa appellate court affirmed a trial court's decision that granted summary judgment to five co-employees of a plaintiff who had been sued under the state's special "gross negligence" exception to co-employee immunity. The plaintiff... Read More
Acknowledging that if one business entity was the alter ego of another, the former could not be sued in tort for injuries sustained by an employee of the "alter ego" entity, a New York appellate court found the defendant-business entity failed... Read More
A Texas appellate court affirmed a trial court's decision granting summary judgment to an employer in a tort suit filed against it by a plaintiff-employee who alleged a co-employee brought a dog to work and the dog bit the plaintiff during the workday... Read More
Observing that at least eight of the ten factual inquiries as to borrowed employee status pointed toward an employment relationship between the plaintiff, who sustained injuries within two hours of first reporting for work, and the defendant, which had... Read More
While the provision of electricity to its Florida customers required that a Florida utility company maintain its equipment, a company with whom the utility contracted for maintenance work did not do so on the basis of any subletting of the utility's... Read More
Construing California law, a federal district court held a plaintiff's IIED tort action filed against her former employer for failure to provide adequate COVID-19 protocols is barred by the exclusive remedy of California's workers' compensation... Read More
Where, prior to his actual employment, a Florida worker signed an agreement with a labor broker in which the worker released the broker's clients from liability for any injury the worker might sustain that was covered by workers' compensation... Read More