Issue Commentary: After 32 Years, NC Courts Still Struggle with “Substantial Certainty” Test

Assailant Can Formulate “Intent” to Injure Employee in Spite of His Mental Illness

NY Grave Digger’s Intentional Distress Claim Fails

A New York appellate court affirmed a trial court’s order granting an employer’s motion for summary judgment in a case in which a former employee—a grave digger—contended he had sustained...

Intentional Injury Action Against Co-Employees Fails Under Alabama’s Substantially Certain Rule

Applying Alabama’s intentional injury exception to the exclusive remedy rule, the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed a trial court’s decision granting two co-employee defendants summary judgment in a civil action...

PA Court: Carefully Planned Suicide Still Compensable

Decision is Consistent with Majority Rule In a holding that is consistent with the dominant rule among American jurisdictions, a Pennsylvania appellate court recently affirmed a Board decision that awarded...

Employee’s Action Against Employer’s Comp Insurer For Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound Barred by Exclusivity

In a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed a finding by the state’s Court of Appeals that the exclusive remedy provisions of the Wisconsin Workers’ Compensation Act barred...

Deceased Employee’s Heirs May Not Maintain Tort Action Against Mississippi Employer Following Training Exercise Shooting

Evidence that a highly trained firearms instructor failed to observe known safety rules, resulting in the fatal shooting of a co-employee in a training exercise, while tragic, was not enough...

Texas High Court Shows "Substantially Certain" Rule Differs "Substantially" from State to State

In an opinion that provides perhaps the best discussion of the intentional injury exception to a state’s exclusive remedy rule, the Supreme Court of Texas held that in order for...

Injured NY Worker Who Received Comp Benefits Might Also Recover in Tort Against Co-Worker

In an unusual case with an interesting twist, a New York appellate court yesterday affirmed a decision by a state trial court that denied a defendant's motion for summary judgment...

Texas Employer Not Liable for Gross Negligence After Heat-Related Death

A Texas appellate court recently affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment in favor of an employer in a gross negligence action filed against it by the family of a worker...

NJ Diabetic Teacher’s Failure to Accommodate Claim Not Barred by Exclusivity

In a decision discussing several employment-related law issues, a New Jersey appellate court held, in relevant part, that a bodily injury claim arising from an employer’s failure to accommodate allegation...

Plaintiff May Not Use Illinois’ “One Day in Rest Act” to Subvert Exclusive Remedy of State’s Workers’ Compensation Act

The administrator of the estate of an Illinois employee killed in a work-related vehicular accident may not utilize the state’s “One Day Rest in Seven Act” (“ODRA”)[820 Ill. Comp. Stat....