Despite the protests of insurance and business interests, the Texas House has passed legislation that would make it easier for certain injured workers to sue property owners for negligence.
House Bill 1657 by Reps. Eiland, Giddings, Hughes, Smithee and Solomons, was proposed in reaction to the Texas Supreme Court’s decision Entergy v. Summers, a high profile workers’ compensation case.
The bill is supported by personal injury trial lawyers as well as the Texas AFL-CIO. It would remove existing liability protections for premises owners who buy workers’ compensation insurance for contract workers who come onto their property to perform their jobs.
In early April the Texas Supreme Court upheld by a vote of 6 – 3 an earlier decision, that a “premises owner” cannot be sued by injured employees of a contractor. The Court had agreed to rehear the case – something it rarely does – after lawmakers objected to its original unanimous 2007 ruling.
Turbine mechanic John Summers was injured in a 2001 accident while repairing a leak on a hydrogen generator at an Entergy Gulf States plant in Bridge City. Summers has since died of unrelated causes, according to Associated Press reports.
Entergy covered his injury with a workers’ compensation policy that protected the company from being sued. In its original 2007 ruling and again in its April 2009 decision, the Court expanded the immunity that had before been applied only to suits filed by direct employees to cover contractors as well.
Lawmakers said it was never their intention that the workers’ compensation law would apply to contractors. State legislators previously have tried but failed to pass bills that would have supported Summers’ position in the case. In its written opinion, the Supreme Court basically told lawmakers they need to go back to the drawing board as current workers’ compensation law favors Entergy. “The Court can attach no controlling significance to the Legislature’s failure to enact legislation,” the opinion stated.
Insurance trade groups, including the American Insurance Association, have expressed strong opposition to the measure. The AIA says HB 1657 would expose premises owners to third-party lawsuits, serve as a disincentive for jobsite owners to provide workers’ compensation insurance and will lead to increased litigation and construction costs.
A business-backed group, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, also opposed the bill, according to the Associated Press.
The bill was sent to the Senate on a 73-71 with one present not voting.
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