Continental Casualty Co. v. Superior Court

Continental Casualty Company (Continental), the workers’ compensation carrier here, seeks a writ of mandate to compel the trial court to sustain its demurrer to the complaint of real party/plaintiff Morales, an injured employee, who sues Continental for (1) negligent failure to make sure the employer preserved a defective ladder as evidence in Morales’ third party product liability lawsuit and (2) negligent failure to notify Morales of the facts giving rise to third party liability in time for him to have acted to preserve the evidence.

We agree with Continental that the exclusivity provisions of workers’ compensation (Lab. Code, §§ 3600, 3602) bar this negligence action against the carrier for contributing to loss of evidence in the product liability suit against a third party. Accordingly the writ shall issue.

Facts

Morales, a television antenna installer, fell and was injured on the job on November 17, 1983, when the bottom rung of a ladder he was attempting to climb on collapsed because the ladder was allegedly defective. In his complaint against Continental, Morales claims Continental, in investigating the accident, asked the employer and its successor to preserve…