 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Travelers Indemnity Co. v. PCR Incorporated12/9/2004
or's actions because it was not the tortfeasor's purpose to cause the harm for which liability is imposed").
The second Bal Harbour Club factor also supports the conclusion that public policy does not prohibit an employer from insuring against the risk of liability arising under Turner's objectively-substantially-certain standard. Again, comparing the conduct at issue in Bal Harbour Club and the conduct at issue here is instructive. In Bal Harbour Club, we looked to Florida's "long-standing policy of opposing religious discrimination" and concluded that "the primary purpose served by the imposition of liability for intentional acts of wrongful discrimination is to deter wrongful discrimination." Id. at 1008. In this respect, employer conduct that was objectively substantially certain to cause injury , even though the employer neither intended nor actually expected that its conduct would cause injury, is distinguishable from an act of intentional discrimination. See Bal Harbour Club, 549 So. 2d at 1006 (distinguishing between claims of intentional discrimination and claims of unintentional discrimination). Bal Harbour Club recognized that most tort liability, even liability for intentional discrimination, will serve both deterrent and compensatory goals. 549 So. 2d at 1008. The unique nature of intentional discrimination suggested that the primary purpose of imposing liability for such conduct was to serve the goal of deterrence. We do not believe the same can be said for conduct subjecting an employer to liability under Turner's objectively-substantially-certain standard.
Travelers points to our statement in Turner where we justified the adoption of an objective substantial-certainty standard on the ground that failure to adopt such a standard "would virtually encourage a practice of 'willful blindness' on the part of employers who could ignore conditions that under an objective test would be found to be dangerous." 754 So. 2d at 691.
Travelers argues that this statement supports the contention that the primary purpose of imposing tort liability under Turner is to deter employers from engaging in conduct that is objectively substantially certain to cause injury . But this argument also would suggest that liability imposed for negligent conduct is primarily directed at the goal of deterrence. The truth is that the goals of deterrence and compensation generally are so interdependent that it is difficult to separate the two and call one the primary goal. Semantics would suggest that liability for compensatory damages primarily is intended to advance the goal of compensation. But an equally basic aim of imposing liability for compensatory damages resulting from negligent conduct is to deter such conduct, i.e., to encourage actors to take efficient precautions and care to avoid causing damages. Our statement in Turner is better understood as a reflection of our understanding of the nature of the bargain struck by the Workers' Compensation Law, and what types of conduct were not contemplated by the Legislature as falling under the provisions of that bargain. See Turner, 754 So. 2d at 691 ("This holding [adopting an objective substantial-certainty test] is also consistent with legislative policy recognizing the liability of managerial or policy-making co-employees for conduct constituting reckless indifference to the safety of other employees.").
Turner did not upset the fundamentals of Florida insurance law, nor did it create a new one-size-fits-all definition of "accident." Turner simply held that the Workers' Compensation Law did not preclude (because, we concluded, the give-and-take between employers and employees that the Legislature crafted in the Workers' Compensation Law w
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Florida Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|