New supreme court ruling limits where employers can be sued for personal injury

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New Supreme Court Ruling Limits Where Employers
Can Be Sued for Personal Injury

• Workers compensation and personal injury cases
  require medical record retrieval and medical
  records review to establish the injury.
• Under workers compensation, injured workers
  dont have the right to sue their
  employers/co-workers for negligence, or
  claim damages for pain and suffering.
• Categories of workers that dont come under
  workers compensation can sue their employers for
  negligence.

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Workers outside the Workers Compensation System

• Interstate railroad workers
• Authorized by the Federal Employers Liability
  Act (FELA), a federal law, to sue their
  employer for damages for injuries sustained
  while on the job.
• Crew members of vessels
• Authorized by the Jones Act, a federal law to
  sue their employers for damages for workplace
  injuries.

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New Supreme Court Ruling on Suing Employers

• The ruling involved a case related to the
  Texas-based company, BNSF Railway Co., and
  it limits where employers/companies can be
  sued for personal injuries.
• 2 plaintiffs belonging to South Dakota sued
  the company for two separate and unrelated
  injuries under the Federal Employers
  Liability Act.
• Both lawsuits were filed in Montana, where
  the company does most of its business

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New Supreme Court Ruling on Suing Employers

• Injuries involved
• A knee injury in a slip-and-fall incident
  that occurred in Washington State
• Fatal kidney cancer following exposure to
  cancerous chemicals at the workplace in
  South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa

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The Ruling and Its Significance

• The Supreme Court ruled that the company
  could not be sued in Montana for injuries
  workers sustain elsewhere.
• The ruling was based on the fact that no
  personal jurisdiction, either specific or
  general, existed in the BNSF case.
• Personal jurisdiction signifies one of the
  limits to a courts power.
• Without personal jurisdiction over the parties
  concerned, the court does not have authority
  to decide the case.

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Personal Jurisdiction Significant in an Injury
Case

• When a case against an employer is dismissed
  on the grounds of personal jurisdiction, it is
  highly beneficial to employers.
• It helps avoid paying huge costs of distant
  litigation.
• Helps avoid the risk of facing litigation in
  states where the laws/jury inclination may
  not be favourable to employers or the type
  of business.

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For more information about our medical record
review services, CALL 1-800-670-2809 TODAY and
speak to one of our senior solutions managers at
any time convenient to you.
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