Warden v. Hoar Construction Co.

Fletcher, Presiding Justice.

Billie Jo Warden filed this wrongful death action against Hoar Construction Company for the death of her husband. The trial court ruled that Hoar was immune from tort liability as a statutory employer under the Workers’ Compensation Act and granted summary judgment to it. Warden asks us to overturn the holding in Wright Associates v. Rieder1 that an employee of a subcontractor cannot bring a tort action against a general contractor who is liable to pay workers’ compensation benefits as a statutory employer. Because the legislature has not eliminated the tort…