Richardson v. North Carolina Department of Correction

LAKE, Justice.

Plaintiff appeals a decision of the Court of Appeals upholding an order of the Industrial Commission dismissing plaintiff’s claim under the Tort Claims Act. For the reasons stated herein, we conclude that plaintiff’s exclusive source of remedy is through the Workers’ Compensation Act, and thus plaintiff’s claim under the Tort Claims Act is barred. Accordingly, we affirm the Court of Appeals.

On 13 September 1991, the plaintiff, an inmate at the Caledonia Correctional Institution, was operating a tractor with an attached silage harvesting machine at the prison farm. The farm…