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Nelson v. Winnebago Industries11/16/2000
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hancock County, Jon Stuart Scoles, Judge.
Plaintiff employee appeals from summary judgment in favor of former employer and co-employees in suit for alleged intentional torts.
AFFIRMED.
Considered en banc.
This plaintiff, Kim Nelson, appeals from a summary judgment ruling in favor of his former employer and co-employees. He contends his suit is not preempted by our workers' compensation law and the district court erred in concluding otherwise. We affirm.
I. Facts and Prior Proceedings.
Nelson had worked for the defendant, Winnebago, for several years but quit to take another job . On his last day of work, May 5, 1995, his co-employees threw a pizza party for him. After the party, co-employees taped Nelson with duct tape and carried him to a shower in the plant. In the process, he claims he was dropped from approximately two feet or knee height, causing the injuries for which he has brought suit. The district court ruled that, under Iowa Code section 85.20(1) (1995), Winnebago is liable only under workers' compensation law and not at common law. The court also ruled the plaintiff's co-employees may not be sued at common law because the plaintiff failed to generate a genuine issue of material fact on the issue of gross negligence under Iowa Code section 85.20(2).
II. The Suit Against Winnebago.
Nelson sued Winnebago, his employer, for the intentional torts of false imprisonment and battery—suits, he claims, that "do not require actual physical injury for recovery" and therefore are not barred by the exclusivity provisions of our workers' compensation law. Winnebago is liable, he claims, because its supervisor, defendant Robert Miller, gave his implicit approval to the prank.
Iowa Code section 85.3(1) provides this trade-off between employers' and employees' rights in the context of work-related injuries:
Every employer, not specifically excepted by the provisions of this chapter, shall provide, secure, and pay compensation according to the provisions of this chapter for any and all personal injuries sustained by an employee arising out of and in the course of the employment, and in such cases, the employer shall be relieved from other liability for recovery of damages or other compensation for such personal injury .
Iowa Code section 85.20 expands on employer immunity:
The rights and remedies provided in this chapter, chapter 85A or chapter 85B for an employee on account of injury . . . shall be the exclusive and only rights and remedies of such employee, the employee's personal or legal representatives, dependents, or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury . . . against:
1. The employee's employer . . . .
The plaintiff contends section 85.20 was never intended to protect employers or "co-employees from common law liability for their intentionally tortious acts" and summary judgment should not have been granted. The plaintiff says a court of appeals opinion implicitly recognized a right of action at common law against an employee for an intentional tort. See Hanson v. Schaumberg, 490 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa App. 1992). The issues in Hanson were (1) whether an intentional tort had been adequately pled, and (2) whether there was sufficient evidence of an intentional tort to avoid summary judgment. The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal of the case on the second ground and did not even consider whether workers' compensation provided the claimant's only remedy.
We have found no case allowing a common-law suit against an employer for the acts of a supe
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