 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Buck v. Freeman12/12/2000
utes that are grounded on humane public policy. Nordling v. Ford Motor Co., 231 Minn. 68, 76-77, 42 N.W.2d 576, 581-82 (1950). The legislative intent here is obvious—to safeguard the lives and limbs of employees working for Minnesota's employers who have been turned down by commercial carriers having highly unsafe working conditions or whose work is otherwise hazardous.
The majority relies on the Modjeski case, saying:
There is within the statute a clear pattern to create an inseparable identity between the employer and his insurer insofar as compensation and medical benefits for the injured employee are concerned. Modjeski v. Atwell, Vogel & Sterling, Inc., 309 F. Supp. 119, 122 (D. Minn. 1969).
In coming to its conclusion, the court in Modjeski relied on several areas within the Minnesota Workmen's Compensation Act (WCA) where insurers and employers are treated similarly. Id. at 121-22. Based on the guidance under Modjeski and implications from the statute, the majority holds that a compensation insurer is protected by the exclusive remedy provisions of the WCA. Modjeski, however, is clearly distinguishable. In Modjeski, suit was brought against a workers' compensation carrier and the inspection company hired by the insurer to inspect the elevator that failed, causing plaintiff decedent's death. Id. at 120. The issue was whether the compensation carrier could be a third-party tortfeasor against whom an action could be brought under Minn. Stat. §á176.061. Id. at 121. The court denied plaintiff's right to bring an action against the carrier after interpreting the WCA that was in effect in 1969, stating:
The duty alleged to have been violated here is one that is required of the employer — providing a safe place to work. Even given its most liberal reading the complaint does not allege a violation of any additional duty owed by the insurer to the employee. Id. at 122-23 (citations omitted).
In Modjeski, the plaintiff's theory of recovery was based upon the insurer's right to inspect the premises contained in the insurance policy. Appellant's claim here is based upon the duty to inspect imposed on the MWCARP in a statutory provision outside the WCA. Here, appellant alleges a breach of an additional duty owed by the insurer to the employee imposed by the legislature outside of the compensation act, a significant difference. The statutory duty of the MWCARP to conduct safety inspections, exists independently from the right to inspect reserved in its policy.
The mutual relinquishment of rights and liabilities is not transgressed by the imposition of liability upon a compensation carrier for a negligent inspection. With the adoption of the compensation act, the employee surrendered rights to a common law action, and the employer surrendered the defenses of no negligence, contributory negligence, or the negligence of a fellow servant. The workers' compensation insurance company was not a participant who surrendered claims or defenses.
One of the leading authorities in workers' compensation law has criticized decisions, such as Modjeski, which shy from imposing liability on a negligent compensation carrier on the theory that the reciprocity concept will be upset, observing:
Nor does it necessarily follow that the carrier should be treated here exactly the same as the employer. The employer assumes compensation burdens in exchange for tort immunity. The carrier assumes compensation burdens in exchange for payment of an insurance premium. In the one respect that is decisive for present purposes, then, their positions are not identical at all. 2 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson's Workers' Compensation § 72.96 (r
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Minnesota Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|