The Exclusive Remedy of Worker's Comp

A
city employee who worked as a firefighter was ruled against in his Worker’s
Compensation lawsuit that alleged a co-firefighting colleague kicked him
intentionally in his groin, making his station captain and the entire fire
department liable for damages for the resulting injuries.

A
trio of judges of the California Court of Appeals in Los Angeles County ruled
against the firefighter in Tibbet vs Los
Angeles County Fire Dept. The ruling was delivered last week, and said,
inpart, that the injuries suffered by Tibbet were judged to be unintentional
and so are barred from any Worker’s Compensation payments under the rules of
exclusive remedy.

This landmark case stems from a
February 2011 incident, when LA County fireman Joshua Tibbetts claimed that he
was consulting with his captain about a previous encounter with a hostile
citizen at a conflagration. Tibbetts alleges that the captain demonstrated how
to handle a hostile citizen at the scene of a blaze by holding up a clipboard
to his face and then kicking him in the groin – thus disabling him. It made Tibbetts wonder, “Do I need a personal injury attorney?”

The captain claimed that Tibbetts
moved into his kick, which was not meant to make contact with any part of
Tibbetts’ private parts.

A trial by jury rendered a verdict
that said, in part, that the captain’s actions were not intended to be hostile
or to inflict injury, so that using Workers Comp as the exclusive remedy for
Tibbetts’ alleged injuries and incapacity was not a legitimate claim.

A trio of judges also turned down
Tibbetts’ later appeal for exclusive remedy via Workers Compensation, ruling
that the evidence did not conclusively prove that Tibbetts’ captain intended
any premeditated or intentional harm.

Though Tibbetts’ lawyer argued that
there had been a number of cumulative errors during the initial trial and
consequent appellate court appeal, it was determined that there had been no
individual error involved in the case, and so was denied.