Workers' Compensation Case Removed from Superior Court in Bench Trial

June 14, 2013

Mark M. Gnesin successfully argued for the removal of a workers' compensation case against Murchison & Cumming’s client, a magazine clearing house, from the Superior Court to the Workers Compensation Appeals Board in a Riverside County Superior Court jury trial.

The case arose from an automobile accident involving the two plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, who sold magazine subscriptions door to door, were passengers in a van, driving from Southern California to Salt Lake City, Utah to sell magazine subscriptions door to door, when the tread on the tire of their van unraveled because the tire was improperly maintained. This caused the van to leave the roadway and roll over several times, causing severe personal injuries to the plaintiffs who were not wearing their seat belts. The value of the plaintiffs' damage claim was $15 million.

The plaintiffs claimed they were employees of the magazine clearing house. The clearing house disputed this, claiming that the plaintiffs were independent contractors to a company which contracted with the clearing house to sell the magazine subscriptions door to door.

The plaintiffs claimed that because the clearing house disputed that they were employees, it was clear that the company did not have workers' compensation insurance for them and that they could therefore sue the clearing house directly, as their employer.
Mr. Gnesin pled an alternative defense which stated that the clearing house was not the plaintiffs' employer, but that if the jury determined that the plaintiffs were employees, the company had workers' compensation insurance to cover this loss and that the case could only proceed as a workers' compensation claim and not in Superior Court.

The court held a bench trial before the jury was selected and the defense convinced the court that, if the jury determined that the plaintiffs were employees, the company’s workers' compensation insurance policy would provide coverage, and that exclusive jurisdiction of the claim would be in the Workers Compensation Appeals Board. The case was then tried to the jury on the bifurcated issue of whether the plaintiffs were employees or independent contractors of the clearing house. The jury found that the plaintiffs were employees of the clearing house and the case ended with that determination without any trial on the issue of damages or any judgment against the client or the carrier.