 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Iddings v. Mee-Lee6/20/1996
Compensation Scheme and the "Wilful and Wanton Misconduct" Exception to Co-Employee Immunity
As a general rule in Hawai'i, workers' compensation is an injured employee's exclusive remedy for an injury arising out of and in the course of employment. HRS § 386-5 provides in pertinent part that "the rights and remedies herein granted to an employee or the employee's dependents on account of a work injury suffered by the employee shall exclude all other liability of the employer to the employee[.]" Id. (emphasis added); see also Coates v. Pacific Engineering, 71 Haw. 358, 362, 791 P.2d 1257, 1259-60 (1990) ("The Hawaii State Legislature, by enacting the exclusivity provision, intended that our Workers' Compensation system be the exclusive remedy for work-related injuries and deaths." (Citation omitted.)).
HRS § 386-8, in like manner, extends immunity from suit to an injured worker's co-employees. HRS § 386-8 provides in pertinent part that:
When a work injury for which compensation is payable under this chapter has been sustained under circumstances creating in some person other than the employer or another employee of the employer acting in the course of his [or her] employment a legal liability to pay damages on account thereof, the injured employee or his [or her] dependents . . . may claim compensation under this chapter and recover damages from such third person.
(Emphasis added.) HRS § 386-8 also provides, however, that "another employee of the same employer shall not be relieved of his [or her] liability as a third party, if the personal injury is caused by his [or her] wilful and wanton misconduct." See also Hirasa v. Burtner, 68 Haw. 22, 25, 702 P.2d 772, 775 (1985) (holding that "if HRS § 386-8 allows an injured employee to file a direct action against his [or her] co-employee for wilful and wanton misconduct, then logically a third-party plaintiff who is not a co-employee should also have the right to implead the wilful and wanton misconduct of the injured worker's co-employee. In both instances, the liability for injuries sustained in the accident is allegedly due to the wilful and wanton misconduct of the injured worker's co-employees.").
B. Hawai'i's "Wilful and Wanton Misconduct" Exception To Co-Employee Immunity Does Not Require An Intent to Cause Injury in Order to Apply
Iddings asserts that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment against her and in favor of Dr. Mee-Lee because the "wilful and wanton misconduct" exception to co-employee immunity, pursuant to HRS § 386-8, does not require proof that the injuring co-employee possessed a specific intent to cause injury to the injured co-employee in order to apply. We agree for three reasons: (1) the plain meaning of the words used in the term "wilful and wanton misconduct" includes reckless conduct that does not require a specific intent to cause injury within its scope; (2) allowing suits between co-employees based on reckless conduct does not contravene or undermine the purpose of co-employee immunity in Hawai'i's workers' compensation scheme, or the purposes underlying workers' compensation in general; and (3) the scope of Hawai'i's uniquely phrased exception to co-employee immunity more closely resembles the statutory schemes in other jurisdictions that exclude injuries caused by conduct that does not require a specific intent to cause injury than in those jurisdictions that include such injuries. We discuss each reason in turn.
1. Plain Meaning
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Hawaii Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|