Federal: Widow’s Wrongful Death Action Against Employer For Husband’s Exposure to Harmful Substances May Be Removed to Federal Court

Construing Missouri law, a federal district court held that a widow, who alleged her husband died as a result of exposure to a variety of harmful substances while he worked for the defendant manufacturing firm, had alleged common law tort liability; her claim did not “arise under” the state’s workers’ compensation law and, therefore, could be removed by the defendant to federal court in spite of 28 U.S.C.S. § 1445(c), which states that “[a] civil action in any State court arising under the workers’ compensation laws of such State may not be removed to any district court of the United States.”  Plaintiff’s petition did not seek to enforce a specific right created by Missouri’s workers’ compensation laws and in fact made no reference to any provisions of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Tindle v. Modine Mfg. Co., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51564 (W.D., Mo. Apr. 15, 2014) [2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51564 (W.D., Mo. Apr. 15, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.06 [100.06]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site