Maine: Wrongful Death Action Barred by Exclusive Remedy Provisions of State Comp Act

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that an estate’s wrongful death action against the deceased employee’s employer was barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act where the undisputed evidence indicated the deceased employee had sustained fatal injuries in a vehicular accident while the deceased was engaged in employment-related activities for his employer. Representatives of the deceased employer, who had died of unrelated causes more than a year after the accident, introduced copies of the employer’s workers’ compensation policy as well as a printout of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board electronic verification of coverage. There were no issues of fact to be determined. The action was barred.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Estate of Kay v. Estate of Wiggins, 2016 Me. LEXIS 114 (July 12, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.01.

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

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