Cases

Appellate court overturned trial judge's granting of Motion for Summary Judgment which found that the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation statute precluded recovery by plaintiffs. Summary judgment may only be awarded when the pleadings, affidavits, depositions and other appropriate documents within the court file reflect that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. In this case, there was an issue of fact as to whether the defendants were acting within the course and scope of their employment at the time of this accident as opposed to being liable in their capacity as owners of a dog and accordingly, summary judgment was not appropriate in this instance. Workers' compensation immunity is extended to employees acting in a managerial or policy making position only if the conduct causing the injury was within the scope of those managerial or policy making duties. If there are issues of fact regarding whether the conduct was within the managerial or policy making duties of the supervisory employee who caused the injury, a summary judgment is inappropriate.