Opinion ID: 2222019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tortious Conduct Amounting To Gross Negligence, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, or Constructive Fraud

Text: In the first itemized set of circumstances the certified question asks whether an employee may have a cause of action against an employer's worker's compensation carrier for the carrier's tortious conduct such as gross negligence, [5] intentional infliction of emotional distress, or constructive fraud. One of the requisite elements constituting the tort of negligence is a duty on the part of the defendant to conform his conduct to the standard of care required by his relationship to the plaintiff. Cowe v. Forum Group, Inc. (1991), Ind., 575 N.E.2d 630, 636; Webb v. Jarvis (1991), Ind., 575 N.E.2d 992, 995. Such duty of care will be found by the courts where reasonable persons would recognize it and agree that it exists. Cowe, 575 N.E.2d at 636; Gariup Constr. Co., Inc. v. Foster (1988), Ind., 519 N.E.2d 1224, 1227. In Webb, this determination involved the balancing of three factors: a) the relationship between the parties, b) the reasonable foreseeability of harm to the person injured, and c) public policy concerns. Webb, 575 N.E.2d at 995. This method of analysis is likewise useful in resolving the present questions. The relationship between an injured employee and the worker's compensation insurance carrier is not one of strangers. Nor is it one of equal bargaining power. A disabled worker must look to the carrier for access to medical treatment. The employer (and thus its compensation insurer) is generally granted significant exclusive control over the provision of medical care under the Worker's Compensation Act. Ind. Code § 22-3-3-4; see Richmond State Hosp. v. Waldren (1983), Ind. App., 446 N.E.2d 1333, 1336 (employee generally is not free to elect, at the employer's expense, additional treatment or other physicians than those tendered by the employer). With regard to the foreseeability of harm, the more a compensation insurer's conduct involves the likelihood of injury, the greater the justification for recognizing a legal duty. Finally, public policy considerations further augment the relationship and foreseeability factors, particularly in view of the strong Indiana policy value embodied in the previously noted constitutional right to remedy by due course of law. We conclude that Indiana law will recognize that an injured employee may assert a cause of action against the worker's compensation insurance carrier for injuries caused by the gross negligence of the carrier. Likewise, Indiana law will recognize a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. It is the intent to harm one emotionally that constitutes the basis for the tort of an intentional infliction of emotional distress. We hold that under proper circumstances, liability will attach to a defendant for an intentional infliction of emotional distress, ... . Cullison v. Medley (1991), Ind., 570 N.E.2d 27, 31. Under appropriate circumstances, therefore, an employee may assert a cause of action against a worker's compensation carrier for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Constructive fraud may be the basis for a cause of action. Swain v. Swain (1991), Ind. App., 576 N.E.2d 1281; Scott v. Bodor (1991), Ind. App., 571 N.E.2d 313. Actions for constructive fraud have been recognized when brought by an automobile accident personal injury claimant against a tortfeasor's liability insurance carrier. McDaniel v. Shepherd (1991), Ind. App., 577 N.E.2d 239. An injured employee should likewise be entitled to assert an action for constructive fraud against the employer's worker's compensation carrier under appropriate factual circumstances. Under Indiana law, an injured employee may bring a cause of action against an employer's worker's compensation carrier for tortious conduct such as to constitute gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or constructive fraud.