Court Opinion

ID: 9771387
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:41:44.781894+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:29.898071
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Chief Justice,
concurring and concurring in result.
I have no quarrel with the result reached by the principal opinion in this case. However, I respectfully disagree with the Court’s attempt to distinguish State ex rel. Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children v. Gaertner, 583 S.W.2d 107, 110 (Mo. banc 1979), for purposes of Mo. Const, art. I, § 14. Unlike the Court, I believe that Cardinal Glennon compels the Court to hold the Workers’ Compensation Law unconstitutional. I would overrule Cardinal Glennon and be done with it for, in my *13view, Cardinal Glennon misstates the law.
As the principal opinion correctly states, “[a]rt. I, § 14 does not create rights, but is meant to protect the enforcement of rights acknowledged by law. The right of access ‘means simply the right to pursue in the courts the causes of action the substantive law recognizes,’ ” quoting Mahoney v. Doerhoff Surgical Services, Inc., 807 S.W.2d 503, 510 (Mo. banc 1991). Cardinal Glennon recognizes far more than the constitutional guarantee of procedural access to the courts; it is founded on the notion that the constitution guarantees substantive access to the courts; it is wrong.
The laws of Missouri do not recognize a substantive, common law right in injured workers to pursue recovery against their employers within the judicial system. “The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the employee ... at common law or otherwise, on account of such accidental injury or death.” Section 287.120.2, RSMo Supp.1991. There being no substantive right at issue, the constitutional procedural guarantee, art. I, § 14, does not apply-
In all other respects, I concur in the Court’s opinion.