Opinion ID: 1058416
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Workers' Compensation Claims and Comparative Fault

Text: The right to workers' compensation benefits is a unique concept in the law, derived solely from statutory provisions rather than from the common law. See 99 C.J.S. Workers' Compensation § 23 (2004). The primary purpose of workers' compensation is to afford benefits for job-related injuries regardless of fault. Woods v. Harry B. Woods Plumbing Co., 967 S.W.2d 768, 772 (Tenn.1998); see also Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-103 (1999). Based upon a mutual renunciation of common law rights and defenses, see Woods, 967 S.W.2d at 772, the system operates to provide quick and efficient compensation to injured workers in exchange for immunizing employers from tort liability and limiting their damages. See, e.g., Ridings v. Ralph M. Parsons Co., 914 S.W.2d 79, 81 (Tenn.1996) (discussing the underlying policy of the workers' compensation system); see also Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-108(a) (1999) (providing that the right to receive workers' compensation benefits shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the injured employee); Snyder v. LTG Lufttechnische GmbH, 955 S.W.2d 252, 256 (Tenn.1997) (noting that the employer is immune from tort liability under Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-108(a).). In Ridings , an employee sustained on-the-job injuries when he fell from a ladder. 914 S.W.2d at 80. The employee then filed suit against the manufacturer of the ladder, alleging liability based on theories of negligence, gross negligence and strict liability. Later, the defendant manufacturer sought leave to amend its original answer to allege, as an affirmative defense, that the plaintiff's employer was negligent. The trial court denied this request. In later reviewing the issue on appeal, this Court held that a defendant in a tort action could not assert fault on the part of the plaintiff's employer as an affirmative defense. Ridings, 914 S.W.2d at 82. Basing our decision upon the principles of comparative fault as announced in McIntyre , we stated that fault may be attributed only to those persons against whom the plaintiff has a cause of action in tort. Id. at 81. Recognizing that employers are immune from tort liability for job-related injuries, we reasoned that [s]ince the plaintiff's employer cannot be made a party to the plaintiff's tort action for personal injuries sustained in the course and scope of his employment, the rationale of McIntyre , both as to principle and procedure, will not permit fault to be attributed to the plaintiff's employer. Id. at 82. In further analyzing the employer/employee relationship, we stated that [t]he duty owed a worker by the employer is not measured by the standard of care applicable in actions based on negligence or strict liability. Id. at 83. The holding in Ridings was later reaffirmed in Snyder , in which we also stated that in workers' compensation cases liability [is] imposed upon the employer without regard to the employer's negligence. Snyder, 955 S.W.2d at 255. The basic premise of the holdings in both Ridings and Snyder was that a defendant in a tort action could not allege, as an affirmative defense, comparative fault on the part of a nonparty who was immune from tort liability. However, we should note at this juncture that this reasoning was later abrogated in large part by Carroll v. Whitney, 29 S.W.3d 14 (Tenn.2000). In Carroll, this Court held that a jury in a medical malpractice case could allocate fault to physicians who, as state employees, were immune from suit. Id. at 19. However, we also recognized in Carroll that the workers' compensation system was distinctly different from traditional tort law. Id. at 20. Therefore, we noted that Ridings and Snyder were not overruled, [r]ather, they remain uniquely applicable with regard to the allocation of fault to employers in workers compensation cases. Id. at 19. Further, we noted that the issue of an employer's liability in a workers' compensation case is governed exclusively by the [Tennessee] Workers' Compensation Law. Id. Looking to the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law, see Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 50-6-101 to -705 (1999), we find further support for the proposition that fault plays no part in assigning liability for workers' compensation benefits. For instance, Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-103(a) (1999) provides that [e]very employer and employee subject to the Workers' Compensation Law shall, respectively, pay and accept compensation for personal injury or death by accident arising out of and in the course of employment without regard to fault as a cause of the injury or death. (emphasis added). Also, Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-111 (1999) specifically bars an employer from asserting negligence on the part of an employee as a defense to a workers' compensation claim. Furthermore, Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-112(a) (1999) states: When the injury or death for which compensation is payable under the Workers' Compensation Law was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability against some person other than the employer to pay damages, the injured worker, or such injured worker's dependents, shall have the right to take compensation under such law, and such injured worker, or those to whom such injured worker's right of action survives at law, may pursue such injured worker's or their remedy by proper action in a court of competent jurisdiction against such other person. (emphasis added). We wish to emphasize that, as the foregoing statutory provision makes clear, an injured employee who is awarded workers' compensation benefits does not relinquish his or her right to also pursue tort claims against third parties. In fact, an employee may seek workers' compensation benefits and simultaneously file suit against a third party tortfeasor. If the employee succeeds in an action against a third party, the employer is then entitled to a subrogation lien against the employee's recovery. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-112(c) (1999); Carroll, 29 S.W.3d at 19. [3] Nevertheless, although the workers' compensation claims and tort claims may arise from one injury, involve the same plaintiff and proceed simultaneously, they may not be combined into one lawsuit. To do so would confuse the fault-based liability of tort with the statutorily imposed no fault liability of workers' compensation. The justifications for imposing liability upon an employer are entirely separate and distinct from those supporting imposition of liability upon a third party tortfeasor. Accordingly, an employer cannot allocate fault to a third party and neither may an employee combine workers' compensation and tort claims in one action. In these instances, fault may not be compared and apportioned between the employer and tortfeasor, and any such claims must be brought in two separate actions. See Ridings, 914 S.W.2d at 84 (noting that the plaintiff's right to recover on allegations of [tort liability] ... is determined without reference to the employer's conduct). As previously noted, the workers' compensation system is purely a creature of statutory construct, with the rights and responsibilities of the parties being derived solely from the statutes themselves. See, e.g., Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Stevenson, 212 Tenn. 178, 368 S.W.2d 760, 762 (1963) (discussing in general the purely statutory nature of workers' compensation law and noting that it is a complete substitute for previous remedies in tort on the part of an employee). What is apparent from these aforementioned statutes, both from their plain language and from prior case law interpretations, is that the issue of fault plays no part whatsoever in assessing liability for a workers' compensation claim. In fact, one of the primary purposes of the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Act is to afford workers compensation for job-related injuries regardless of fault. Woods, 967 S.W.2d at 772. Simply put, the issue of fault never enters the picture in a workers' compensation case. Consequently, an employer may not assert third party fault as an affirmative defense to a workers' compensation claim. As a corollary, an employee may not rely upon Tennessee Code Annotated section 20-1-119, which by its plain terms applies only to cases in which comparative fault is or becomes an issue, as support for amending a workers' compensation complaint to include claims against potential third party tortfeasors.
Our answer to the first certified question effectively resolves the issues presently before the certifying court, therefore, we need not address the second question at this time.