Listen to this article
A contracting business’s liability for an employee’s death is exclusively within the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Maryland Appellate Court found.
In a reported opinion written by Judge Alexander Wright, Jr. and filed last week, the Maryland Appellate Court dismissed a wrongful death claim filed by Summer Ledford, the daughter of an employee of Jenway Contracting who fell to his death at work. In dismissing Ledford’s claim, the appeals court affirmed the Baltimore County Circuit Court.
In its opinion, the Maryland Appellate Court wrote, “we find nothing inherently wrong with construing the Workers’ Compensation Act in a manner that limits a litigant’s rights under the Wrongful Death Act.”
Ledford argued that the Circuit Court for Baltimore County incorrectly dismissed her wrongful death claim on the grounds that the Workers’ Compensation Act was her exclusive remedy, according to the opinion. Instead, in her view, because she was neither a covered employee nor a dependent of a covered employee, the act’s exclusivity provision does not prevent her from bringing her wrongful death claim.
Ledford further argued that as a nondependent, she had no ability to recover workers’ compensation benefits.
In response, Jenway Contracting argued that the Workers’ Compensation Act’s exclusivity provision limits an employer’s liability whenever a covered employee is injured during their employment, the opinion states.
The company noted that the only exceptions to...
Russian military command has been lying for the fifth month in a row about battlefield “successes,” claiming that Russian forces are advancing west of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. However, this...