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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
SALT LAKE CITY—An administrative law judge’s denial of a workers compensation claim does not bar an employee from suing companies with which her employer contracted, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled.
Friday’s ruling in Wendy Gudmundson vs. Del Ozone et al. resulted from a workers comp claim filed by Ms. Gudmundson that said an ozone laundry system installed in 2004 at the state prison where she was a supervisor caused her to suffer brain injuries.
An administrative law judge denied her claim, concluding a causal link between Ms. Gudmundson’s medical condition and work did not exist. Ms. Gudmundson and her husband then sued Del Ozone and other entities responsible for the laundry system that used and generated ozone. They alleged negligence in manufacturing and installing the system, which they also said was defective.
But a trial court held that because the workers comp administrative law judge determined that Ms. Gudmundson’s injuries were not caused by ozone exposure, she could not recover damages from the installers, distributors and manufacturers of the laundry system.
Utah’s Supreme Court disagreed and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
The state high court declined “to adopt a rule that would categorically give preclusive effect to workers’ compensation adjudications in civil actions brought by an injured worker against nonemployer third parties.”