May 9, 2011
Tim Newton recently obtained summary judgment in two cases involving the workers' compensation exclusivity bar. In the first case the Workers' Compensation Commission had found that an employer-employee relationship existed and awarded benefits to the defendant employee. The plaintiff argued that since the employer failed to obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage, the plaintiff could bring a tort claim against the employee. The court granted summary judgment, holding that the employer's failure to obtain coverage did not affect the employee's immunity.
In the second case, the plaintiff sued a Georgia employer and Georgia employee for wrongful death arising from a single vehicle accident in South Carolina. The employer's workers' compensation carrier had paid claims for all the other employees in the van. But the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her workers' compensation claims in both South Carolina and Georgia and argued that since the workers' compensation carrier denied her South Carolina workers' compensation claim, no coverage existed and she was entitled to bring a tort suit. The court ruled that these issues were for the Commission and granted summary judgment for both the employer and the employee.