Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Texas: Court Utilizes Going and Coming Rule to Bar Recovery in Tort Action
Posted on 27 Dec 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

A Texas appellate court held the so-called “going and coming” rule in the workers’ compensation sphere could be utilized to bar recovery against an employer in a civil action that alleged the employer’s employee was negligent in... Read More

United States: Missouri Insurer Allowed to Intervene in Employee’s Third-Party Civil Action
Posted on 22 May 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Stressing that allowing a workers’ compensation insurer to intervene in a third-party civil action filed by an injured worker against the purported tortfeasor would not cause delay and would not necessarily cause confusion among potential jurors... Read More

United States: IRS Employee May Not Sue for Stress Associated With Filing Injury Claim
Posted on 28 Mar 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

A federal district court dismissed a civil action filed by an IRS employee who sought money damages from the Service and from its Workers’ Compensation Branch for “undue work and stress” associated with pulling together the records and... Read More

North Dakota: Res Judicata Bars Worker and Parents of Deceased Worker from Tort Recovery Against Purported Employer
Posted on 14 Sep 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where the parents of a worker killed in an industrial accident and another worker who sustained injuries in the accident submitted applications for workers’ compensation benefits and accepted them, the parties could not later maintain a civil action... Read More

United States: Canadian Government Not Immune from Tort Suit Filed by U.S. Citizen Injured While Working at Canadian Consulate in Boston
Posted on 27 Jun 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a split decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held the Canadian government was not immune from a suit filed against it by a U.S. citizen who sustained a work-related injury while working as an administrative assistant to the Consul... Read More

Federal: Issue of Fact Regarding Control Means Tort Action May Proceed Against General Contractor
Posted on 22 Jan 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

Where a subcontractor’s worker sustained serious injuries when he attempted to use a grinder—owned by the project’s contactor and which did not have a required safety guard—and where there was a conflict in the evidence as to whether... Read More

Connecticut: “Payloader” Is Not Motor Vehicle for Purposes of Special Rule Allowing Tort Action Against Fellow Employee
Posted on 17 Apr 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31–293a creates several exceptions to the otherwise applicable rule that a workers’ compensation claim for benefits is the exclusive remedy that an employee may pursue against a fellow employee. One such exception allows... Read More

New Jersey: Court Crafts Instructions to Allow Employer’s Participation in Tort Action Where Contractual Indemnification Is an Issue
Posted on 14 Aug 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

Where the general contractor on a construction project had been sued in tort by the estate of a subcontractor’s employee and, in turn, the general contractor claimed it was entitled to contractual indemnification from the deceased employee’s... Read More

Ohio: Worker’s Intentional Tort Action Against Employer Fails
Posted on 24 Apr 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

An Ohio appellate court agreed with a trial court that an employer could not be held liable, under an intentional tort theory, for serious injuries sustained by an employee who suffered amputation of both legs when two bundles of steel, each weighing... Read More

West Virginia: Worker Loses His “Deliberate Intention” Action Against Employer
Posted on 16 Mar 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s denial of post-trial motions following an adverse jury verdict in a “deliberate intention” action filed pursuant to W. Va. Code § 23-4-2(d)(2)(ii) (2005). The plaintiff, who... Read More

Federal: Plaintiffs’ Tort Action Against Employer Fails Where Injury Was Shown to Be “Substantially Certain,” But Washington State Law Required a Showing of Actual Certainty
Posted on 7 Aug 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

Construing Washington state law, a federal district court has dismissed a civil action filed by an employee and his spouse against an employer that alleged the employer had actual knowledge that prolonged exposure to alumina caused illness to the lungs... Read More

NJ: Informal Arrangement Between Father-Son Physicians Means Joint Employment for Purposes of Plaintiff’s Tort Action Against Son
Posted on 10 Oct 2013 by Larson's Spotlight

In an unpublished opinion, a New Jersey appellate court recently affirmed in pertinent part a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a physician-defendant in a civil action for personal injuries filed against the physician by a woman... Read More

Washington: Tasered Trooper’s Tort Action Against State Patrol Not Barred By Exclusive Remedy Rule
Posted on 2 May 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

A Washington state appellate court held that the state’s exclusive remedy rule did not bar a trooper’s tort action alleging deliberate intentional infliction of “certain injury” sustained when he was “shot” with a Taser... Read More

Wyoming: Father May Maintain Tort Action Against Employer for Mental Injury Associated With Son’s Death
Posted on 19 Feb 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

The Supreme Court of Wyoming found that a negligent infliction of emotional distress claim filed by an employee against the employer and one of the employer’s superintendents following the death of his son, who also worked for the employer at the... Read More

Ohio: Court Reiterates “Substantially Certain” Test No Longer Applicable in Intentional Tort Actions
Posted on 4 Mar 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

While the action of the employer in utilizing undersized “outriggers” to extend a work platform could be characterized as reckless, the employer was nevertheless entitled to summary judgment in an intentional tort action filed against it by... Read More