Lind v. Barnes Tag Agency, Inc.

Summary

The Oklahoma Supreme Court held that the sole shareholder of a corporate employer was not immune from a wrongful-death negligence action based on his individual ownership of the property where the employee was injured. The court distinguished the shareholder’s personal duties as a third-party landowner from the employer’s workers’ compensation immunity, vacated the Court of Civil Appeals’ opinion, and affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded the trial court’s order.

Holdings

1. Barnes was not the decedent's co-employee under 85 O.S. Supp. 2006 § 3 because he was not an employee of Barnes Tag Agency and had not elected workers' compensation coverage as a stockholder-employee.
2. The Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Act did not bar the administrator's negligence suit against Barnes individually for duties arising from his ownership of the property where the decedent was injured.
3. Barnes Tag Agency, Inc., as the decedent's employer, was protected from the wrongful-death action by the exclusive-remedy provision of 85 O.S. Supp. 2006 § 12.

Questions Presented

1. Whether James Barnes was a co-employee of the decedent under the former Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Act.
2. Whether the former Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Act barred a wrongful-death negligence action against the corporation's sole shareholder based on his independent ownership of the property where the employee was injured.
3. Whether the employer's workers' compensation immunity extended to Barnes individually as a third-party landowner and alleged tortfeasor.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded