Mo-Vac Serv. Co., Inc. v. Escobedo - 603 S.W.3d 119 (Tex. 2020)

Rule:

For the intentional-tort exception to the exclusive remedy to apply under Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 408.001(a), the employer must believe that its actions are substantially certain to result in a particular injury to a particular employee, not merely highly likely to increase overall risks to employees in the workplace.

Facts:

An employee died when his rig ran off the highway and rolled over. Plaintiff employee’s estate representative was suing to recover damages for his pain and suffering before he died. Plaintiff contended that the employee fell asleep at the wheel due to fatigue from being forced to work grueling hours. The trial court granted petitioner employer’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment. The court of appeals reversed and remanded, concluding that whether petitioner employer believed its conduct was substantially certain to cause the employee’s death remained an issue of fact. Petitioner employer filed a petition for review. 

Issue:

Did the plaintiff raise a fact issue on whether the employer believed that the accident was substantially certain to result from being overworked? 

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The court held that the appellate court's reversal of the employer's no-evidence motion for summary judgment in an action for pain and suffering prior to the employee's death was improper because the estate failed to raise a fact issue on the applicability of the intentional-injury exception to the exclusive-remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Act. For the intentional-tort exception to the exclusive remedy to apply, the employer must believe that its actions were substantially certain to result in a particular injury to a particular employee, not merely highly likely to increase overall risks to employees in the workplace; the estate's evidence failed to raise a fact issue that the employer subjectively believed that the employee's death was substantially certain to occur and the causal sequence the evidence established was too attenuated.