Opinion ID: 1874942
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Underlying Tort Suits

Text: After the explosion, Turner's wife and Creighton both sued PCR. Turner's wife, as the personal representative of Turner's estate, brought a wrongful-death action, and Creighton brought a personal-injury action. PCR moved for summary judgment on the ground that it was immune from suit under the exclusive-remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Law. [4] The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of PCR on this ground, and the district court affirmed. Turner v. PCR, Inc., 732 So.2d 342 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), quashed, 754 So.2d 683 (Fla.2000). We quashed the district court's decision and held that PCR was not entitled to summary judgment on its exclusive-remedy defense. Turner, 754 So.2d at 684. We began by noting that our case law already recognized that the exclusive-remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Law did not bar an injured employee from suing his employer in tort if the employee could demonstrate that his injury was the result of an intentional tort committed against him by his employer. Id. at 686-87 (citing Eller v. Shova, 630 So.2d 537 (Fla.1993); Fisher v. Shenandoah Gen. Constr. Co., 498 So.2d 882 (Fla.1986); and Lawton v. Alpine Engineered Prods., Inc., 498 So.2d 879 (Fla.1986)). We also noted that our case law had recognized two alternative methods for satisfying the intentional-tort exception. An injured employee seeking to avoid the exclusive-remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Law and sue his employer in tort could do so, of course, by demonstrating that his employer exhibited a deliberate intent to injure him. Turner, 754 So.2d at 687 (quoting Fisher, 498 So.2d at 883) (alteration omitted). Alternatively, an injured employee could satisfy the intentional-tort exception by demonstrating that his employer engaged in conduct which [was] substantially certain to result in injury or death. Id. at 687 (quoting Fisher, 498 So.2d at 883) (alteration omitted). In Turner, however, we went one step further. We held that the latter method of satisfying the intentional-tort exception, the substantial-certainty method, calls for an objective inquiry: the relevant question is not whether the employer actually knew that its conduct was substantially certain to result in injury or death but, rather, whether the employer should have known that its conduct was substantially certain to result in injury or death. 754 So.2d at 688. Accordingly, we held that under the substantial-certainty method of satisfying the intentional-tort exception, the employer's actual intent is not controlling. Id. Rather, this method requires a court to look to the totality of the circumstances to determine whether a reasonable person would understand that the employer's conduct was substantially certain to result in injury or death to the employee. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). [5] Applying this standard, we held that PCR was not entitled to summary judgment because genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether its conduct had been objectively substantially certain to cause injury or death. Id. at 691. [6]