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ModernWorkercompansation
Modern Workers Compensation
Database updated February 2011
Part
1. CONSTRUCTION/VALIDITY
Chapter
100. GENERAL CONSTRUCTION & VALIDITY
References
s 100:
1. Replacement of tort system
46 ALR3d 1279, Workmen's Compensation-Exclusive Remedy
Trial Strategy
20 Am Jur POF 375, Employee Status-Federal Tort Claims Act
11 Am Jur Trials 397, Litigation Under Federal Employers' Liability Act
Forms
25A Am Jur Pl & Pr Forms (Rev), Workers' Compensation, s 74, Petition or
application-For adjudication of worker's compensation claim-Injury
At common law, an employee obtained compensation for workplace injuries, if
at all, by suing the employer in tort.[1] This system was regarded as
inconsistent with modern industrial conditions[2] -slow, costly, and affording
too many opportunities for employers to avoid liability.[3] Consequently, all
states have enacted workers' compensation statutes, guaranteeing an employee
compensation for workplace injuries regardless of fault and free of traditional
common-law defenses.[4] The right to workers' compensation benefits is wholly a
creature of statute, and in no sense is it based on the common law.[5]
The American concept of workers' compensation discards the common-law
concept of tort liability in the employer-employee relationship, and
substitutes for it a no-fault system of compensation in predetermined amounts
based on the employee's wages for loss of earnings resulting from accidental
injury arising out of and in the course of employment.[6] But while workers'
compensation is a no-fault system, it is not a form of insurance,[7] a
state-managed health and accident scheme, or a life insurance program.[8]
Workers' compensation has been described as a contractual remedy that
compromises an employee's right to a common-law tort action for work-related
injuries in return for relatively quick and certain compensation.[9] Its basis
is a contract of hire, either express or implied, with the statute setting the
contactual rights between the parties.[10] The system is based on a mutual
renunciation of common-law rights and defenses by employers and employees
alike.[11] The statute imposes liability without fault on the employer and, in
turn, prohibits common-law suits by employees against their employers.[12] The
employer pays some claims for which it would not be liable under common law in
exchange for limited liability, while the employee gives up common-law remedies
in exchange for sure and certain relief.[13]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[FN1]
Massachusetts
Barrett v Rodgers, 408 Mass 614, 562 NE2d 480 (1990).
Ohio
Ohio's workers' compensation system was enacted to replace the
unsatisfactory common-law remedies available to those injured in the
workplace. Bailey v. Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., 91 Ohio St. 3d 38,
741 N.E.2d 121 (2001).
[FN2]
Idaho
Idaho Code s 72-201.
[FN3]
Massachusetts
Barrett v Rodgers, 408 Mass 614, 562 NE2d 480 (1990).
[FN4]
Kentucky
Kentucky's Workers' Compensation Act does not require proof of negligence
and provides a right of recovery that is not subject to tort defenses.
Adkins v. R & S Body Co., 58 S.W.3d 428 (Ky. 2001).
Massachusetts
Barrett v Rodgers, 408 Mass 614, 562 NE2d 480 (1990).
PR
Unlike anywhere else in the United States, in Puerto Rico, when a seaman,
who is a resident of Puerto Rico, is injured within the territorial
waters of Puerto Rico while working for a company insured under the
Workmen's Accident Compensation Act of Puerto Rico (PRWACA), the only
remedy available is the one provided by local law, the PRWACA. U.S. v.
Zenon-Encarnacion, 185 F. Supp. 2d 127 (D.P.R. 2001); 11 L.P.R.A. ss 1 et
seq.
Texas
The Texas Workers' Compensation Act does not prohibit pre-injury employee
elections to participate in nonsubscribing employers' benefit plans in
lieu of exercising common-law remedies because allowing these elections
does not violate public policy. Lawrence v. CDB Services, Inc., 44 S.W.3d
544 (Tex. 2001), abrogating Reyes v. Storage & Processors, Inc., 995
S.W.2d 722 (Tex. App. San Antonio 1999), review denied, (Nov. 4, 1999)
and Castellow v. Swiftex Mfg. Corp., 33 S.W.3d 890 (Tex. App. Austin
2000), reh'g overruled, (Jan. 19, 2001).
[FN5]
West Virginia
Boyd v Merritt, 354 SE2d 106 (1986, W Va).
[FN6]
Idaho
Idaho Code s 72-201:
"The state of Idaho, therefore, exercising herein
its police and sovereign power, declares that all phases of the premises
are withdrawn from private controversy, and sure and certain relief for
injured workmen and their families and dependents is hereby provided
regardless of questions of fault and to the exclusion of every other
remedy, proceeding or compensation, except as is otherwise provided in
this act, and to that end all civil actions and civil causes of action
for such personal injuries and all jurisdiction of the courts of the
state over such causes are hereby abolished, except as is in this law
provided."
Kansas
The purpose of the Kansas Workers' Compensation Law is to restore the
earning power lost as a result of an injury. Decker & Mattison Co., Inc.
v. Wilson, 44 P.3d 341 (Kan. 2002).
South Carolina
Case v Hermitage Cotton Mills, 236 SC 515, 115 SE2d 57 (1960).
[FN7]
Kentucky
Kentucky's Workers' Compensation Act does not require proof of negligence
and provides a right of recovery that is not subject to tort defenses.
Adkins v. R & S Body Co., 58 S.W.3d 428 (Ky. 2001).
South Carolina
Price v B. F. Shaw Co., 224 SC 89, 77 SE2d 491 (1953).
[FN8]
Wisconsin
State v Labor & Industry Review Com., 136 Wis 2d 281, 401 NW2d 585 (1987)
.
[FN9]
Connecticut
Mingachos v CBS, Inc., 196 Conn 91, 491 A2d 368 (1985).
[FN10]
Alaska
An employer's failure to provide workers' compensation insurance does not
create a separate contract cause of action, even though the obligation to
provide workers' compensation insurance is incorporated into every
employment contract. Therefore, the employee cannot maintain claims for a
breach of the employment contract and breach of the implied covenant of
good faith and fair dealing for the employer's failure to provide the
coverage. Nickels v. Napolilli, 29 P.3d 242 (Alaska 2001).
Montana
Buckman v Montana Deaconess Hospital, 224 Mont 318, 730 P2d 380 (1986),
later proceeding238 Mont 516, 776 P2d 1210.
[FN11]
Colorado
CRS s 8-40-102.
Florida
Fla Stat s 440.01.
New Mexico
NM Stat Ann s 52-5-1.
Tennessee
Workers' compensation Search Term End benefits are payable according to a
well-defined scheme or schedule and without regard to the fault of the
employer or the care exercised by the employee. GAF Bldg. Materials v.
George, 2001 WL 291914 (Tenn. Sp. Workers' Comp. 2001).
[FN12]
Illinois
Meerbrey v Marshall Field & Co., 139 Ill 2d 455, 151 Ill Dec 560, 564
NE2d 1222 (1990).
[FN13]
Louisiana
Guidry v. Frank Guidry Oil Co., 579 So. 2d 947 (La. 1991) (overruled by,
Gauthier v. O'Brien, 618 So. 2d 825 (La. 1993)) and (overruling
recognized by, Washington v. Department of Transp., 8 F.3d 296, 38 Fed.
R. Evid. Serv. 1529 (5th Cir. 1993)) and (overruling recognized by,
Crane v. Exxon Corp., U.S.A., 633 So. 2d 636 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1993)
) and (overruling recognized by, Myers v. Burger King Corp., 638 So. 2d
369 (La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 1994)) and (overruling recognized by, Cavalier
v. Cain's Hydrostatic Testing, Inc., 657 So. 2d 975 (La. 1995)) and
(overruling recognized by, Acosta v. Criterion Catalysts Co., L.P., 949
F. Supp. 454 (E.D. La. 1996)), overruled by Gauthier v. O'Brien, 618 So.
2d 825 (La. 1993) (overruled by, Cavalier v. Cain's Hydrostatic Testing,
Inc., 657 So. 2d 975 (La. 1995)) and (overruling recognized by, Lawrence
v. Department of Transp. and Development, 665 So. 2d 551 (La. Ct. App.
5th Cir. 1995)) and (overruling recognized by, Duplantis v. Danos, 664
So. 2d 1383 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1995)) and (overruling recognized by,
Stockstill v. C.F. Industries, Inc., 665 So. 2d 802 (La. Ct. App. 1st
Cir. 1995)) and (overruling recognized by, LeBlanc v. Continental Grain
Co., Inc., 672 So. 2d 951 (La. Ct. App. 5th Cir. 1996)) and (overruling
recognized by, Thornhill v. State Dept. of Transp. and Development, 676
So. 2d 799 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1996)) and (overruling recognized by,
Moore v. Safeway, Inc., 700 So. 2d 831 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1996)) and
(overruling recognized by, Acosta v. Criterion Catalysts Co., L.P., 949
F. Supp. 454 (E.D. La. 1996)) and (overruling recognized by, Keith v.
U.S. Fidelity & Guar. Co., 694 So. 2d 180 (La. 1997)) and (overruling
recognized by, Wingfield v. State Through Dept. of Transp. and
Development, 716 So. 2d 164 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1998)), overruling
recognized by Washington v. Department of Transp.,