Workers' Compensation
Listed below is McConnaughhay, Coonrod, Pope, Weaver & Stern, P.A.'s workers' compensation case law database. The database dates back until 1971 and includes over 5500 workers' compensation court decisions.
To view the case summaries, select one of the general topics listed below.
Clark v. Gumby's Pizza Systems, Inc.
21 FLW D1337
The Florida Workers' Compensation Act provides the
exclusive remedy for workers injured in compensable
accidents while on the job. To overcome this
exclusivity, the employee must allege facts to
demonstrate that the employer's actions amount to an
intentional tort which were substantially certain to
result in injury or death. The standard for proving an
exception to the exclusive remedy provisions of the
Florida Workers' Compensation statute requires more
than a strong probability of injury. It requires
virtual certainty. Court determined in this case that
the plaintiff's complaint did not allege sufficient
facts to warrant a finding of an exception to the
exclusivity provisions of the Workers' Compensation
Act. Conclusiary allegations of "substantial
certainty" do not raise otherwise insufficient
allegations of fact to the level of an intentional tort
sufficient to avoid the exclusivity of the act. In
this case, the facts alleged would be sufficient to
establish reckless or wanton misconduct on the part of
the employer (which is not sufficient to warrant an
exception to the exclusive remedy provision). However,
they would not be sufficient to establish that the
employer's conduct was virtually certain to result in
injury to the injured worker. Accordingly, lower
court's dismissal of employer's complaint with
prejudice affirmed.
