Opinion ID: 1999216
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Effect of Manzi

Text: I acknowledge that in the case of Manzi v. State, 687 A.2d 461, 461-62 (R.I.1997) (mem.), this Court held, in an order, that a plaintiff's civil action, which was based on the same injuries that were the foundation of his settlement of a disputed workers' compensation claim under § 28-33-25.1, was barred because the employee had signed an unquestionably comprehensive release of all liability stemming from the claimed injury. In our order, in dicta, we also observed that the exclusivity portion of the act would have barred the plaintiff's civil suit against his employer. Manzi, 687 A.2d at 461-62. In making that observation, however, we did not analyze the act's definition of the word injury. Id. Therefore, I do not agree that the exclusivity clause, in and of itself, operates to bar civil claims in all situations where the parties have executed a release pursuant to § 28-33-25.1, because such a construction would reduce the final sentence of that section, entitling the employer to a release, to mere surplusage. Local 400, International Federation of Technical and Professional Engineers, 747 A.2d at 1005.