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Conley v. Brown Corp. of Waverly8/5/1998
Douglas, J.
The case at bar presents us with an excellent opportunity to revisit the holdings in Taylor, 36 Ohio St.3d 149, 522 N.E.2d 464, and to expressly overrule Taylor as an anomaly of Ohio law. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals, vacate the judgment of the trial court, and remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings.
In Taylor, Luke Scargill and Bobby Lee Taylor were employees of a metal manufacturing concern known as Alumax, Inc. Scargill was injured and Taylor was killed as a result of an explosion that occurred while aluminum scrap was being fed into a crusher machine at Alumax. Scargill and the administrator of Taylor's estate filed suit against Academy Iron & Metal Company ("Academy Iron"), the supplier of the aluminum scrap. The plaintiffs sought recovery against Academy Iron for products liability. Academy Iron then filed a third-party complaint against Alumax, alleging that Scargill's personal injuries and Taylor's death had been caused by the intentional tortious acts of the employer. The third-party complaint sought indemnification from Alumax to Academy Iron for any damages for which Academy Iron was found to be liable in the underlying actions of Scargill and Taylor.
Alumax moved to dismiss the third-party complaint for failure to state a claim. Academy Iron later sought leave to file an amended third-party complaint to add a claim for contribution. The amended third-party complaint was filed along with the motion for leave to amend. Thereafter, the trial court dismissed Academy Iron's third-party complaint, apparently holding that Academy Iron had no standing to bring an action against Alumax due to the immunity provided to complying employers under R.C. Chapter 4123, Ohio's Workers' Compensation Act. The dismissal of the third-party complaint (in which Academy Iron had asserted only a right to indemnification) implicitly disposed of the claim foscontribution that Academy Iron had attempted to assert in its amended third-party complaint.
Academy Iron settled the claims in the underlying actions by Scargill and the administrator of Taylor's estate, but appealed the dismissal of the third-party complaint. On appeal, the court of appeals in Taylor affirmed the judgment of the trial court, finding that the third-party complaint was precluded by former R.C. 4121.80. Upon further appeal, this court, by a divided (five-to-two) vote, affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals.
At the outset of this court's decision in Taylor, the Taylor majority noted that, pursuant to Section 35, Article II of the Ohio Constitution and R.C. 4123.74, employers who comply with Ohio's workers' compensation laws are immune from damages for employee injuries that arise in the course of the employment. Id. at 150-152, 522 N.E.2d at 466-467. The majority observed that " s these provisions [i.e., Section 35, Article II and former R.C. 4123.74] explicate, the General Assembly, in carrying out its constitutional mandate and adopting a workers' compensation law, provided complying employers with immunity from damages for employee injuries that arise in the course of employment." Id. at 152, 522 N.E.2d at 467. The Taylor majority also noted that an employer is not immune from damages for employee injuries caused by the intentional tortious conduct of the employer, since such conduct falls outside the scope of employment and workers' compensation law. Id., citing Blankenship v. Cincinnati Milacron Chemicals, Inc. (1982), 69 Ohio St.2d 608, 23 O.O.3d 504, 433 N.E.2d 572. However, following a brief discussion of the holding in Blankenship, the court in Taylor found that Acade
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