Texas Supreme Court limits injured workers' right to sue third parties over injuries

Workers' compensation laws prevent employees from suing their employer over an injury. But in certain instances, injured workers' may be able to sue a responsible third party (http://www.deutermanlaw.com/third-party-torts.asp) for their injuries. For instance a construction working employed by a subcontractor may be able to sue the general contractor on the job if that company's negligence caused or contributed to the injury. In such cases, injured workers are entitled to the full range of damages available to them under the law plus workers' comp benefits from their employer.

In a disturbing ruling, the Texas Supreme Court has effectively taken this right away from injured workers, according to a recent editorial in the Austin American-Statesman. The case in question involved a worker who was severely injured at an Entergy power plant.

"The Entergy case centered on whether the "premises owner" of a large facility, in this case a utility power plant, could get immunity against a lawsuit filed by a contract worker injured on the job simply by declaring itself to be the general contractor and buying workers' compensation coverage for the contractor and actual employer.

In 2001, John Summers, a contract worker for International Maintenance Corp., was seriously injured while working on a plant owned by Entergy, an electric utility that serves Southeast Texas. He began collecting workers' compensation benefits from the insurer, and he sued Entergy, accusing it of providing defective equipment. But Entergy claimed immunity on grounds it had made itself the general contractor and purchased the workers' compensation insurance for the IMC employees."

The Texas case clearly appears to limit injured workers' rights to sue when a party other than their employer is responsible for their injuries. And that is bad news for injured workers in the state. The ruling clearly favors businesses while leaving workers with few legal protections.