Sewell v. Clearing MacHine Corp.

The issue before us today is whether, in an action in a circuit court seeking damages for personal injury, the circuit court has jurisdiction to decide whether the defendant is the plaintiff’s employer and thus able to invoke the exclusive remedy provision of the Worker’s Dis*58ability Compensation Act. MCL 418.131; MSA 17.237(131). We hold that the circuit court has jurisdiction to make this determination.

I

On May 10, 1976, while an employee of Bathey Manufacturing Company, the plaintiff was seriously injured in an industrial accident. In 1978, he filed a complaint in the Wayne Circuit Court,…