Brown v. Estess, 51315

• Decision Date: 22 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 51315,51315
• Citation: 374 So.2d 241
• Parties: Curtis BROWN, Sr. et al. v. N. S. ESTESS et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 241

374 So.2d 241

Curtis BROWN, Sr. et al. v. N. S. ESTESS et al.

No. 51315.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 22, 1979.

Nobles & Ferguson, James W. Nobles, Jr., Jackson, John W. Christopher, Canton, for appellants.

Heidelberg, Woodliff & Franks, Sam E. Scott, Jackson, for appellees.

Before PATTERSON, C. J., and SUGG and WALKER, JJ.

WALKER, Justice, for the Court:

Curtis Brown, Sr. and Maxine Brown, individually and as administratrix of the Estate of George Brown, and other statutory beneficiaries, the appellants herein, brought this wrongful death action in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Mississippi, against the individual members of the Board of Directors of the Madison County Cooperative and its general manager, N. S. Estess, alleging that the negligence of the appellees was the proximate cause of the death of George Brown. The suit arose out of the death of George Brown, son of Curtis and Maxine Brown, who suffocated on December 29, 1975, in a soybean bin while in the course of his employment at Madison County Cooperative. Appellees' defense, in part, was that suit against them was precluded by Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-9 (1972) which they alleged provides compensation under the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Act as an exclusive remedy. The lower court overruled a demurrer, but, at the conclusion of the appellants' case, sustained a motion for a directed verdict on behalf of the appellees because, in his opinion, the plaintiffs had failed to make out a case of negligence. From this action of the trial court, this appeal is being prosecuted only as the court's ruling pertained to N. S. Estess general manager of the Madison County Cooperative.

Before this court need consider whether the appellants failed to make a prima facie case of negligence against Estess, we must first determine as a matter of law whether the Workmen's Compensation Act provides an exclusive remedy for the appellants herein and serves as a bar to this action against Estess.

In McCluskey v. Thompson, 363 So.2d 256 (Miss.1978), this Court, in a well-reasoned decision by Justice Sugg, addressed the question of whether workmen's compensation was the exclusive remedy of an employee who suffered a work-related injury as a result of the negligence of a coemployee.

In holding that McCluskey's exclusive remedy was under the Act, this Court said:

The Workmen's Compensation Act was designed to compensate victims of industrial accidents and aid in their rehabilitation and restoration to health and vocational opportunity. Section 71-3-1 Mississippi Code Annotated (1972). The Workmen's Compensation Act represents a wide departure from common law because the Act precludes a common law tort action by an employee against his employer but, in return, assures the employee an award without the necessity of showing fault or negligence on the part of the employer. The legislature has substituted a no-fault compensation system to replace the common law action by employees against employers and thus determined that the cost of this no-fault compensation should be borne by the employing industry. This brings into play the concept of enterprise liability and logically places the burden of providing compensation for industrial injuries upon the employer. Compensation for industrial injuries is rightfully placed upon the employer because, (1) industrial injuries are causally related to the fact of employment, and (2) the employer is in a position to pass this cost to society in the form of higher prices.

If the plaintiff in this action is permitted to recover from the fellow servants of the deceased employee, the employer and carrier would be fully reimbursed for all benefits paid the statutory beneficiaries of the...