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Sorban v. Sterling Engineering Corp.9/16/2003
rule. "Workers' compensation systems ordinarily are limited to recovery in tort actions for injuries arising in the workplace during the course of employment and compensate employees for such injuries. See Jett v. Dunlap, 179 Conn. 215, 222, 425 A.2d 1263 (1979). In most cases, the Connecticut act is a bar to independent actions filed by an employee against an employer for an injury that occurs at the workplace. See General Statutes ยง 31-284.
"There is an exception, however, to the exclusivity provision of the workers' compensation statute. That one exception exists when the intentional tort of an employer injures an employee or when the employer has engaged in wilful or serious misconduct. Suarez v. Dickmont Plastics Corp., [229 Conn. 99, 106, 639 A.2d 507 (1994) (Suarez I)]. The exception gives an employee a cause of action in addition to the remedies provided by the act. . . . he employer must have engaged in intentional misconduct, as that has been defined through our case law ... directed against its employee. . . . Anything short of genuine intentional injury sustained by the employee and caused by the employer is compensable under the ct. . . . The exception does not include accidental injuries caused by gross, wanton, wilful, deliberate, intentional, reckless, culpable, or malicious negligence, breach of statute, or other misconduct of the employer short of genuine intentional injury....
"The actual intent standard or test could produce inequities under some hypothetical situations, and it is, therefore, the substantial certainty standard that most often is used." (Citations omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Morocco v. Rex Lumber Co., supra, 72 Conn. App. 520-22.
Our Supreme Court has stated that an employee can prevail only "by proving either that the employer actually intended to injure the plaintiff (actual intent standard) or that the employer intentionally created a dangerous condition that made the plaintiff's injuries substantially certain to occur (substantial certainty standard)." Suarez v. Dickmont Plastics Corp., 242 Conn. 255, 257-58, 698 A.2d 838 (1997) (Suarez II).
"The substantial certainty test provides for the intent to injure exception to be strictly construed and still allows for a plaintiff to maintain a cause of action against an employer where the evidence is sufficient to support an inference that the employer deliberately instructed an employee to injure himself." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Morocco v. Rex Lumber Co., supra, 72 Conn. App. 522.
In a trilogy of recent cases, this court established the scope of the substantial certainty exception to the exclusivity provision of the act. To escape the exclusivity provision of the act, the plaintiff must allege facts to establish either the actual intent standard or the substantial certainty standard. "Under either theory of employer liability, however, the characteristic element [of wilful misconduct] is the design to injure either actually entertained or to be implied from the conduct and circumstances. . . . [See also Suarez II, supra, 242 Conn. 257-58.] Not only the action producing the injury but the resulting injury also must be intentional....
"What is being tested is not the degree of gravity of the employer's conduct, but, rather, the narrow issue of intentional versus accidental conduct." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Morocco v. Rex Lumber Co., supra, 72 Conn. App. 523; see also Ramos v. Branford, 63 Conn. App. 671, 679, 778 A.2d 972 (2001); Melanson v. West Hartford, 61 Conn. App. 683, 767 A.2d 764, cert. denied, 256 Conn. 904, 772 A.2d 595 (2001).
With the foregoing princip
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