 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Archer v. Roadrunner Trucking Inc.12/23/1996
RANSOM, Justice.
{1} Shirley Ann Archer filed an action for loss of spousal consortium against Roadrunner Trucking, Inc. and Paul Stehlik in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Archer's husband Douglas, an employee of Roadrunner Trucking, sustained a work-related injury while assisting fellow employee Stehlik in operating a forklift. Douglas received benefits for this injury under the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Act, NMSA 1978, ยงยง 52-1-1 to -70 (Repl. Pamp. 1991 & Cum. Supp. 1996). Archer then filed suit against Roadrunner and Stehlik for loss of spousal consortium which she alleges to be a claim separate from her husband's claim for workers' compensation, and thus not within the exclusivity provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act. Defendants argue that an action for loss of consortium is derivative of the injured spouse's right to recover, and thus prohibited by the Act.
{2} Finding no controlling precedents concerning this issue of New Mexico law, the district court certified to this Court the question whether "the exclusivity provisions of the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Act [52-1-6(C), (D) and (E), 52-1-8 and 52-1-9] bar a separate common law cause of action for loss of consortium by the Worker's spouse when the claim is separate from the Worker's claims under the Act and is part of a separate case?" We accepted this certification pursuant to Rule 12-607 NMRA 1996 (providing authority to answer by formal written opinion questions certified to our Court by federal courts).
{3} The exclusivity provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act. The Workers' Compensation Act is sui generis and in derogation of the common law. overruled on other grounds by . The act creates rights that do not exist at common law, and precludes application of rights that do exist at common law. The legislature makes clear its intention that the Act provide the exclusive remedy for an injured employee:
C. Every worker shall be conclusively presumed to have accepted the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act if his employer is subject to the provisions of that act and has complied with its requirements, including insurance.
D. Such compliance with the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act, including the provisions for insurance, shall be, and construed to be, a surrender by the employer and the worker of their rights to any other method, form or amount of compensation or determination thereof or to any cause of action at law, suit in equity or statutory or common-law right to remedy or proceeding whatever . . . .
E. The Workers' Compensation Act provides exclusive remedies. No cause of action outside the Workers' Compensation Act shall be brought by an employee or dependent against the employer or his representative, including the insurer, guarantor or surety of any employer, for any matter relating to the occurrence of or payment for any injury or death covered by the Workers' Compensation Act.
Section 52-1-6. To reinforce this concept, the Act provides that
all causes of action, actions at law, suits in equity, and proceedings whatever, and all statutory and common-law rights and remedies for and on account of such death of, or personal injury to, any such employee and accruing to any and all persons whomsoever, are hereby abolished except as provided in the Workers' Compensation Act.
Section 52-1-8. Additionally, Section 52-1-9 provides that "the right to the compensation provided for in this act, in lieu of any other liability whatsoever, to any and all persons whomsoever, for any personal injury accidentally sustained or death resulting therefrom, sh
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 New Mexico Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|